Jim had hoped for a slow night, but it wasn't turning out that way. He found himself in the middle of a high profile case, just what he didn't need right now. Bill Dorton, homebuilder, had returned from a business trip to find his wife dead. According to his story it took an hour and a half to get off the plane and get home. Already sounded fishy as far as Jim was concerened. By the time they had secured the scene and the CSIs had arrived the sun was already rising. Jim had hoped to leave a little early but as things were going, he'd be lucky to leave at all.

By the time the shift was supposed to have ended, Sara and Warrick had collected evidence and were ready to heaqd back to the lab. "Look, I got some things I need to do," Jim said. "I'm heading home but call me if anything pops." There really was nothing else he could do with the case until they had a chance to study the evidence anyway. Sara agreed to call him and he headed for Jenna's.

As he walked into the house, he heard muffled screams from the hallway. As he ran towards the sound, he saw Aaron standing in the hall by the bathroom door, panicking and pushing at the door. "What's going on?" Jim asked. Aaron turned toward him. "She went in to take a shower and a few minutes later she started screaming. And the door is locked. I tried to tell her to unlock it, but I don't think she can hear me."

Jim tried the door. Then remembering a trick from his childhood, he asked Aaron for a paper clip. Aaron ran to his room and came back with one. Jim used the clip to unlock the door and charged through. She was huddled in the corner of the shower, screaming and flailing, obviously caught in the memory of the rape. He reached in, turning off the water and then grabbed a towel to wrap her in. Once he had her wrapped up, he eased in with her, hugging her close to him. "It's okay, Baby. You're alright. No one wants to hurt you. We're here...I'm here and Aaron is here. Calm down, Jenna...look at me..." He kept talking, careful to keep his voice calm and quiet. Slowly she began to open her eyes and look at him. Once she saw him, she began to relax. She looked from Jim to Aaron, who was standing behind him. Then she started to shake uncontrolably. "Come on, Jenna...let's get you out of the shower. He eased her up and then guided her out of the shower stall. They walked down the hall to the guest room where he eased her toward the bed. Aaron was following every step of the way.

"Aaron," Jim said over his shoulder, "Look in her drawers and get some clothes for her...something easy to put on." Aaron did as Jim instructed and brought the clothes to him. "Son, I'm going to help her get dressed. I know this is really awkward, so I'll let you decide if you want to stay and help or wait in the other room." Aaron seemed like he's had about all he could handle and he quietly exited. Jim proceeded to dress her. She seemed to be in a trance and he was frightened by her blank stare. Aaron had brought underwear and flannel pants with a tee shirt for a top. That suited Jim fine. It took some work because she did nothing to help, but she didn't fight him either. Finally, just as he set her back to a sitting position after pulling her flannels up, she snapped out of it. "Jim? What...what happened?"

"You went in to shower and started to scream. I think you were replaying the rape in your head. Anyway, Aaron helped me get you out and then I helped you get dressed."

She looked down at her clothes and asked in a detached tone, "Who picked the outfit?"

"Aaron." Jim smiled "You feeling better now?"

"I...yeah, since you are here. I was scared all night. I know you called that one time, but later...it started getting to me. I'm a mess."

"Jenna, what would you think about counseling? It might help you ...in the beginning, I mean. And Aaron probably could use some too."

Jenna stared at him thoughtfully. "You might be right. I hate the idea, but maybe it's a good one. Do you know of anyone?"

"I can ask our departmental shrink who he would reccommend."

"Yeah...ah, thanks" She looked deflated.

"Jenna, I hate that stuff too. But I learned a long time ago that it can help make the healing go quicker."

"You've used counseling?"

"Have to in my job. They make us after every traumatic event or if a supervisor or co workers express concern over our attitudes. Sometimes the job really gets to you, you know. And so talking to someone can help smooth over the rough spots a little. It's not a cure all, but it does help."

"What's the cure?"

"Well...sometimes I'm not sure there really is a cure. But time seems to make things easier." Sadness enveloped Jim as he remembered his most recent counseling issues...Bell's death, Nick's kidnapping, and his own brush with death. Yeah, counseling helped, but he'd be carrying the scars the rest of his life.

Jim..." she looked at him solemnly. "Would you hold me for a few minutes...just...hold me?"

He eased up beside her and took her into his arms, gently pushing her head onto his shoulder. "Like this?"

A soft moan escaped her as she said "yes."

They sat for a little while until she wiggled free. Again, Jim let her decide when enough was enough. "How about breakfast?" she smiled. But there was no light in her smile. Jim felt his heart tighten as her lack of warmth registered. "Yeah, sounds good." He tried to be cheerful but he thought he sounded lame.

She brewed some coffee and then got busy with the food. To Jim, she seemed too busy, like a kid on a sugar high. It worried him. She had refused his offer to help so he stood by, watching. Once the coffee finished brewing, she poured him a mug and handed it to him. After a few minutes, she was calling Aaron to breakfast and the three of them sat down to a feast of bacon, eggs, and biscuits. Aaron insisted on cleaning the kitchen after they had finished so Jim and Jenna headed to the family room. Once again, she sat beside him and snuggled into his side, her arms around him and holding on as if her life depended on it. There was some morning talk show on the tv with the people babbling on and on. It provided suitable background noise and relieved them of the need to talk. Slowly sleep began to overtake Jim and his head lolled back against the couch as he drifted away.

He dozed like that for a couple of hours before his cell phone woke him. "Brass."

"Jim...it's Catherine. Look things are beginning to happen on this Dorton case. We need you back."

"Yeah...okay. On my way."

"I'm sorry Jim...I know you have other things on your mind right now."

"Yeah...it's fine."

He explained that he had to leave, telling her he would call later. Her uneasiness was apparent but she accepted that he had to go. Finally she mustered a little smile with some life to it as she told him, "you go do what you need to do but I want my body pillow back soon." Her eyes almost twinkled. It was progress.

"Oh...honey, your body pillow gets very cold without you snuggling. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Back at the station, Catherine told him they had a dancer in the interrogation room, Cotton Candy, that knew Margo Dorton and that Ms. Candy was jealous of Dorton's relationship with Jesse Hottman, a male escort of sorts.

Jim was hoping that she was guilty and that would be the end of it. But her alibi checked out and they were back to square one, except for Hottman. It was Sara who went back to the Dorton residence and found the missing puzzle piece, a picture album with Margo Dorton and a baby. When she got back to the lab, they ran a DNA test comparing Jesse and Margo.

While they waited for the results, Jim 'bought' Sara a cup of coffee in the break room. They sat at the table and sipped in silence for a moment. Finally, he broke it. "How ya doin', kid?"

She smiled a sad, but very Sara smile, and nodded, "okay."

"Yeah..like you look okay? What's up?"

"Nothing...I just...I dunno." She finally just shrugged and let it go.

"Your...ah, mood...wouldn't have anything to do with a MIA supervisor, would it?"

She eyed him from beneath her eyelashes, barely looking up at his face. "MIA?"

"Well, no one's heard from Grissom since he left. Sounds like MIA to me."

"Oh...yeah. Well, you know Grissom."

"Yeah, I do. I also know something's been eating at him awhile. And not just the miniature killer either. Sara, I'm talking from a little experience here...you get to a certain age...point in life, and you start asking yourself, 'is this it?' I mean, you've been rolling along with life, things happening...good and bad...but taking it as it comes; I dunno, maybe building a career or something, but not really taking stock. Then one day you look up and realize that you have more days behind you than ahead of you and you feel the clock ticking. I know his mother died not to far back, often that sets things in motion...losing your parents. Anyway, I think that's where he is. And he's weighing a lot of questions. For him, the job has been his life. I kinda think that he's realizing he wants more to life than just the job...maybe even someone in his life. The prospect of growing old alone...it's kind of bleak, you know? Anyway, I think he was burning out with the job and that's part of this disapppearing act. But I think there's more to it. Be patient with him when he gets back. Just because he comes back knowing what he wants...that doesn't mean he'll act on it right away. He'll still be Grissom, you know."

Sara smiled a little. "Jim, do you think that when he gets back...he might , well...Could the thing he decides he wants...do you think..."

"Gil's no fool, even though at times he is foolish. He knows how you feel about him. We all do. And I've seen the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is looking...if he's half as smart as he thinks he is, then he'll beat a path to your door. But that's just my humble opinion...we'll have to wait and see how smart he really is." He smiled a caring smile at her and winked.

She couldn't help herself, the wink made her giggle. "Thanks Jim. You're a good friend, you know that? We're lucky to have you in our little group."

Jim chuckled. "Yeah, bet no one would've said that 6 or 7 years ago."

"Well, things were different then. I've seen what the supervisor job has done to Grissom. I can only imagine what it did to you."

"Yeah...it is a heavy weight. I didn't realize how heavy until I was out from under it awhile."

The lab was able to match the DNA from Jessee Hottman to Margo Dorton. As it turned out, Margo Horton was his mother. She had left the young Jesse with his father, who was abusive. Finally Jesse had run away and and learned to fend for himself. Margo had tracked him down, possibly hoping for a reconcilliation. Instead, Jesse had reacted violently to the news that she was his mother and he had killed her. Brass had to admit, it was one of the more unusual outcomes to a case they'd had. Once they got Hottman booked and into lock-up, Jim was free to leave. He was given the graveyard shift off since he'd worked last night and most of the day on this very high profile case. "Well, at least that worked out," he muttered under his breath as he prepared to leave. Now he would be able to stay with Jenna tonight.