Then the phone rings, I hear you

And the darkness is a clear view

Coz you've come to rescue me

ARCHIE

Sara excused herself from the crowd in their very spacious break room. Even though we were pretty much used to her emotional attacks, that one felt different. Hannah Valdez, her friend and co-worker excused herself and went after her.

The commotion died down and they all went back to their work. We sat down and Greg made a beeline to the coffee pot. Catherine was fascinated on the amount of feminine magazines on their coffee table. Nick and Warrick and Grissom took their claim with the sports and forensic magazines. I, on the other hand, am admiring the framed picture of their squad.

"Instant?" Greg burst out. "Instant coffee cannot keep you awake for 12 hours straight. I should've brought along my own."

"Hey guys. Tired?" Sara said sweetly. Catherine smiled back and shook her head but Greg showed her his plans through a fake yawn. "Okay, I'll drive you to your hotels then you can rest." Warrick and Cath disagreed.

"Three years without the vegetarian health food of Sara Sidle is long enough for us to miss it," she said as we headed out the door. Greg and I returned to our former seats at the back. Hannah's Chanteuse perfume wafted in the car. It's nice… she's nice. Nick caught me staring at space.

"Hey, hey there," he said snapping his fingers in front of me. "Deep Space Nine is not found on this headrest."

"Oh Nicky boy, can't you see?" Warrick said. "This guy's in love, man. You looked the same way when Sa…" he didn't get to finish because Greg placed his hand forcefully on his mouth to shut him up. Grissom shot him a death look. Sara was on the phone but I'm pretty sure that's quite off-limits to one of us here. Her not-so-professional grin gave her away.

We arrived at the hotel and all of us were surprised at the size of the place they got for us. It's even bigger than the place I have in Las Vegas. The room was like an apartment on it's own with three bedrooms, a kitchen and a living area. We settled our things and then headed to Sara's favorite pizza place. I desperately want to eat at a good ole Californian diner.

The meal went great. Sara reinforced the fact that she bid being a vegetarian goodbye by ordering a "Meat-lover's Dream Pizza". Nick ordered the same thing. Normally, it would bother her but right now, she just so tensed up around him that she pretty much ignored him. When the others went on with their own conversations, I turned to her and began to discreetly ask about Hannah.

Everybody listened at her answer. "Let's see… Hannah Lisa Valdez. She's 27, CSI2, graduated at UC Berkley and she started in DNA just like Greg. She's pretty responsible and very reliable. She's um... half-Filipino half-Canadian. She knows four languages. And hey, she's single. A HUGE fan of you, Grissom! She was so floored when she knew I was your student and colleague at LV. She rained me with questions about the stuff you work on and how you work." I smiled. She sounds interesting.

And again, you have to thank Nick for returning the tension in the air. But thank him again for lightening up the mood. "Y'all, where do you plan to take us after the convention? We're with'ya for a week," he joked and resumed his eating.

When it was time to go, I asked Sara, "Um… Sara, can I," I sighed, "I mean, if you're okay with it and she will not be mad or anything…" babble away Archie.

She chuckled. "Of course, Archie. Hannah's okay with that. Just don't bug her okay? She has pretty much the same temper as I have." She handed me a piece of paper with Hannah's number on it. I never felt this way for a long time. It's like back in high school, asking a girl for her number having cold feet upon her presence.

"Thanks, I owe you," I said. That night, Greg was asleep after watching 'The Rules of Attraction'. He was jabbering about Kate Bosworth the whole time and stuff until the Sandman got to him. I took out my mobile phone and scrolled to Hannah's number. There… 2413108. All you need now is the courage to push that 'Call' button.

"Hello, this is Hannah," the other line answered. "Who is this?"

What now, Johnson? "Uh… hi. This is… uh… Archie," I managed to choke out.

"Oh hi!" she chirped cheerfully.

"I'm not bothering you, am I?"

"No, not at all. I'm just watching re-runs of 'Alias' here in my room. It's almost over so it's okay," she said. "How did you…" she paused, "Oh let me guess, Sara?"

"Yeah. I hope you don't mind. I mean, I should've asked permission but Sara said it's alright."

Hannah let out a sigh. "Archie, it's okay. I'm telling you. I'm a night owl even though I work days. My biological clock is still in the Philippines."

"You went to the Philippines? Oh wait. That's a foolish question, you're from that country, right?"

"My Dad's family is back there. I get to come over every two months. Enough about me… you're Chinese, right? Am I getting the right vibe?"

This is getting calmer. "Yes, my Mom is from China. But I've never been there, though, someday I want to."

"Cool! You know how to speak Chinese?" she asked.

"Mandarin dialect only," I replied. "Word has reached my ears that you know how to speak it right?"

"Ah you've done your homework, Johnson," she laughed. The room clock rang 12mn. Her alarm went off a minute later. "Hey, you must be tired."

"Eh… a bit. You must be, too," she said softly trying to stifle a yawn. I noted this and pushed her to go to sleep. "Okay, okay, I'm guilty. I yawned. In no time, you will too." She was right. Her soft girly laugh permeated through the speaker. "Archie, I have to go now. I can hear whoever over there snoring."

"He he, that will be Greggo. Okay, Hannah… it's been nice talking to you. Good night."

"Same to you, Archie. Sweet dreams!" And then we clicked off. That was the most relaxing five minutes I had.