Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, or any of its characters.

A/n: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. The last couple of chapters were really case intensive, so I decided to show a little shift comradery. Don't worry there's still some case info. I hope ya'll enjoy it, and as always, let me know if there are any spelling mistakes. One note, the word o'l for oil is not a mistake. I wanted it to sound like it is said. If you can think of a better way, let me know. Oh, and the movie of course is "Best Little Whore House In Texas" which I've always liked. And the Queue refers to Netflix, which I am in love with.

Chapter 14

Sara yawned and stretched, turned over and snuggled into Gil's side. This, right here, was her favorite time of day. His arm wrapped around her, and she smiled into his chest hair. She loved the scratchy feeling of it on her face.

"Hmm, good morning." He murmured.

"Good…" she was struck by a yawn before she could get out. "…morning." They were silent for a few minutes, then Sara asked. "So, how did your case go yesterday? I meant to ask last night, but, ah… we got a little distracted.

"Luckily we wrapped it up pretty quickly. Guy thought he'd play a prank on his high school nemesis at their reunion." He chuckled, and she smiled. It was a sound she wished she heard more often. "He slipped some crushed up Viagra into the guys drink, hoping to cause an embarrassing reaction when the guy got up to make his speech. He was the class valedictorian, and football hero. What he didn't know was that the guy was on heart medication. He keeled over in the bathroom. If that wasn't bad enough, the guy tried to hide the body in the trunk of his car." He sighed. "I wish they were all that witless. So, how was your day?"

"Well, I got to visit a male version of The Ranch. You should have seen this place. Just imagine penis shaped wind chimes, garden statuary depicting men doing all the things you'd expect to find at a male brothel, and a Madam that would put Miss Mona to shame." She laughed.

"Miss Mona?" he questioned.

She sat up, looking at him aghast. "The Best Little Whore House in Texas?" At his continued silence, she sputtered. "Dolly Pardon and Bert Reynolds, she's Miss Mona, the kind hearted Madam of the Chicken Ranch, he's the laid back Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd who's in love with her. Melvin P. Thorpe, a televangelist, played by Dom Deluise tries to shut down the ranch, so to try and save her home, the sheriff asks her to shut down, and she agrees, but then the annual college football celebration comes up, and the Aggies win. Miss Mona doesn't want to let down the boys, so she agrees to open up just for them, but Thorpe sneaks in with his cameras and discovers them all in varying degrees of debauchery." He still looked blank. "Anyway, in the end, she has to close the Chicken Ranch, and she decides to leave Ed Earl for his own good, but he won't hear it, and convinces her to marry him.

"Okay Honey, You've convinced me. I'll…" he was interrupted by the shriek of their alarm. "I'll add it to our Queue as soon as I get the chance." He got up, and she admired his nude body before he slipped on his robe. "Now, how about some breakfast?"

She grinned. "And where exactly should we go?"

"How about…" For the second time they were interrupted, this time by his cell phone. Picking it up, and looked at who was calling. "Catherine." She nodded, and got up and headed into the bathroom. After a quick shower, she wrapped a towel around herself and walked back into the bedroom. She could smell the coffee brewing, and headed towards the kitchen. He was just pouring a cup. He fixed it the way she liked it, and handed it to her.

"Why do I get the feeling that our leisurely breakfast is out?" She warmed her hands on the mug and watched as he fixed his own cup.

"Breakfast isn't out; it just won't be as private as I had planned. That was Catherine. She says it's been forever since the whole crew got together, and since we never know if we'll be able to in the morning, she thinks we should all get together tonight." He smiled at her look of consternation.

"Well, it's a fine time for her to want to bond. I wonder what's behind this. Wait, she obviously didn't expect you to tell me this, so is she going to try to give me a…" she was interrupted by her cell. "Ah, I guess she is."

She went back to the bedroom, closely followed by Grissom. Flipping open the phone, she answered. "Hi Catherine, what's up with the early call?"

"Hey Sara, I was thinking this morning that it had been so long since we'd all gotten together and touched base. I was hoping that you could meet us at Frank's for breakfast before we go into work."

"Sure Catherine. What time?" Sara loosened the towel and sitting down on the bed, raised it up and began toweling her hair.

"I was thinking around nine. I'm pretty sure everyone else is coming. The only maybe was Grissom. I tell you, that man was always reclusive, but lately he's become almost a hermit. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I ran into him earlier this week on a blind date."

"Grissom was on a date? What'd she look like?" She looked over at Grissom with a teasing smile as she said this, only to lose the smile when she saw where he was looking. The towel she had been drying her hair with had slipped completely off, and his eyes were glued to her bare torso.

She heard Catherine saying something about his date not showing up, so that she didn't know what she looked like. "So will you be there." Catherine asked.

Watching Grissom slowly walking over to her, she could barely come up with a response. "Uh, sure Catherine, I-I'll be there… though I may be a little late." She hung up without a goodbye.

By now Grissom had reached her side. He leaned down and whispered in her hear. "Oh yeah, I think we'll both be late."

Catherine looked at her phone and sighed. If she didn't know better, she'd think that Sara wasn't alone. But, did she really know better? Sara had been a lot happier lately, and though that could be attributed to many things, and not necessarily a man, but she couldn't shake the feeling that one was involved. It seemed as though everyone's love life was going better then hers. She looked around the empty house. Lindsey was on ski trip, and her mom was staying at Sam's. She said she felt closer to him there, and as he'd left the ranch to her in his will, she had every right to. Not wanting to stay in the empty house, she gathered up her purse and headed out to her car. If she left now she'd get to Frank's a little early, but that was okay. Climbing into her car, she tried to ignore the reason that she was in this mood. She'd woken up feeling good, and it had seemed like a great idea to get everyone together for breakfast, but her mood had taken a downward turn when she called Warrick and Tina had answered the phone. She refused to acknowledge why exactly that had made her so unsettled. Deciding to get into a better mood, she thought about how she was going to get Sara to admit she was seeing someone.
Sara walked into Frank's fifteen minutes after nine, and saw that everyone, except Grissom was there. Of course she didn't expect to see him, as she'd just left him, and he wouldn't be coming for another few minutes. She walked over to the table just in time to overhear Nick telling everyone about his and Grissom's case the day before. Smiling, she slid into the booth beside Greg. Catherine was sitting directly across from her in the six top booth, Nick beside her by the window.

"… and of course the guy denied it, but we knew that the evidence would bear out our theory. I mean, the guy had the prescription in his pocket, and had left his finger prints all over the glass that he'd doctored. We just had to keep him busy until we got everything processed. Slap, Bam, Bang we got our guy." He laughed and high-five'd Warrick. "So, Warrick told us all 'bout your little trip out to, what was it called again, Manny's Man Haven? What did you think of the décor?"

"I- thought it was appropriate to the type of business it was, and aside from the décor, the house was very nice." She looked at Catherine. "Did you find out if your case was connected that that robbery you're working?"

"MO's the same; it took place only a couple of blocks away from the first, and just like in that one, evidence is elusive." She sighed. "I just hope there doesn't have to be another one before we can catch the culprit."

"Buck up Catherine, now that I'm on the case with you, we're sure to wrap it up, and recover the Dame's jewels in no time." He gave her an exaggerated wink.

Sara looked at Catherine questioningly, "What's this about jewels?"

"The victim in this last case was relieved of some precious stones. You remember that case we worked with Lois O'Neil? Well, this ladies jewelry box would give hers a run for its money. Still, the surveillance cameras caught nothing, and all we could pull was some smudged prints." She looked up as the waitress came over. They had told her that they were waiting on someone before they ordered.

"You guys ready now?" She asked, popping her bubble gum.

"Uh, not yet, we're still waiting on someone, but I'm sure Sara would like something to drink." Catherine answered.

"Oh- sure, I'll take some orange juice." She said looking at the waitress, giving Catherine a clear view of her neck, which just happened to have a thumb sized hickey on it. When she turned back, Catherine was giving her an odd look. She was saved from asking what was up, when Grissom came in the door. She turned to the waitress with a relieved look. "Good, here comes our last member. We should be ready to order in a couple of minutes."

Grissom came up and slid into the booth beside Catherine, that being the last available seat. "Sorry I'm late; I had a couple of things that needed my undivided attention at home. What are we talking about?"

Warrick spoke up from the other side of Greg. We were just catching up on what everyone's working on, but I'm sure you already know all that, so why don't we go on to a new subject?"

"Yeah, "Catherine chimed in. "Sara, Greg was telling me that his cousin was in town, and that he wanted to fix you up with him. I think you should tell him if you're available or not. You know, I'm sure that if you're seeing someone, he'll understand." Her eyes twinkled as she said this.

Sara stared mutely at Catherine, her mind working to come up with a satisfactory answer. She hadn't given much thought about this since Grissom had mentioned the possibility, and she didn't know if she should go along with it, or tell them that she was seeing someone, and so couldn't go out with him. She felt a nudge on her foot, and surreptitiously glanced at Grissom, who was studying his menu. He gave a tiny wink. Looking at everyone else at the table, she came to a sudden decision. "Sure, I'd love to go out with him. Maybe for lunch, if we're not too busy." Looking at Greg she grinned at his nonplused expression. "Why don't you tell me all about him?"

"Uh- okay, he's about my height, maybe a little taller. People tell us we look alike, so you know he's handsome." He laughed, and looked around the table.

"How long is he going to be in town?" Sara asked, stealing a glance at Grissom.

"Until Sunday, but he's thinking of moving out here, so if you guys hit it off, you don't have to worry about a long distance relationship."

Sara was about to respond, when the waitress showed up to take their orders. Sara looked around to see who was going to go first, but Nick, Catherine, and Warrick seemed to have been struck dumb. They were all staring at her like she'd just announced that she'd been abducted by aliens. Grinning she turned to the waitress. "I'll have a blueberry waffle, with maple syrup, and a fruit cup." She looked at Grissom, and found that he was studying the menu. "Uh Gris, you should know what they have by now, why don't you go ahead and order, while the guys gather their wits. They seem to be scattered about them." At this, Catherine jolted, and turned to the waitress.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah Gil, you go first." She too looked down at a menu, trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. She looked at Nick, and nudged him with her elbow. He blinked and looked at her. She raised her eyebrows, indicating the waitress. He in turn, kicked Warrick in the shin. Warrick jumped, and kicked him back in reflex. By this time, both Grissom and Greg had given their orders. Scrambling to catch up, Catherine ordered oatmeal and toast. Could she be wrong about Sara seeing someone? Or maybe, she was seeing someone, but it wasn't exclusive. Sara and Greg were discussing the details of the date, and Grissom was offering his opinion of the best place to go for lunch. Surly she'd entered some sort of bizarro world. During the rest of breakfast they discussed a variety of things, but Sara's acceptance of the date was on every mind, but two. They were busy thinking about how fun it was to pull one over on some of the best investigative minds in the country.

Warrick and Sara stood across from each other, the lighted layout table, laden with evidence from the case between them. In front of Sara was a list of everyone that they had questioned. "So we have, Miles Mason, the victims' lover. Mae Riley, his ex-girlfriend who he abandoned, leaving her pregnant. Her sister, Sally Riley. James Nelson, loan shark who was owed money by the victim. Spencer Bergh, his roommate. His most recent girlfriend, Janet Freely. The waitress, Sandy Temple, she ran when we wanted to question her, and lied about what she knew." Sara listed off.

"Yeah, the murder weapon is most likely a nail file, but not just your ordinary, everyday nail file. It would have to be heavy enough to penetrate not only the chest cavity, but the stomach, and genitals. Also, it was decorated with glass jewels. Now, I did do a quick internet search, and found a site for glass nail files, decorated with glass jewels depicting different pictures. Only thing is, we don't have the actual murder weapon, just trace evidence that it was a file, so we can't get a warrant for the company's customer list. The fact that we suspect that the weapon was a nail file suggests that the killer was a woman, but it could have been a man who had access to a woman's nail kit. Basically, unless we can catch someone with a likely weapon, this is a dead end." Warrick sighed and propped his hands on the side of the table, allowing his head to hang down.

"Was there anyone else that we've met that would have a reason to want Johnson dead? It would seem to be a crime of passion… but it could also be someone wanting it to look that way." Sara looked up as Nick walked in.

"Hey guys, slow night, you guys need any help?" He quirked an eyebrow at first Sara, then Warrick.

"You know Handsome, you might just be able to help." Warrick turned to him with interest. "I've had this idea playing in my head. We need to find out if one of our suspects has nails that would be a possible match to our trace, but we don't want to alert her to the fact that we're checking her out. Her name is Janet Freely. She works at…" He pulled a file towards him, "Glacier, that new restaurant that's all glass, from the tables and chairs, to the walls. The ones in the bathroom are frosted, and I hear they keep it pretty cold in there all the time. Maybe you could go in there, sit in her section, flirt a little. Compliment her nails. She hasn't met you, so she shouldn't think you're on the investigation. I already called. She's working until five."

"Huh, well I guess it beats searching dumpsters. What exactly do you want to know?" Nick looked interested.

"Just what color her nails are, you know if they need a lot of maintenance. Give her the good 'ole boy Texas routine." Warrick's Texan twang when he said this made Sara chuckle.

When Nick responded, he thickened is accent so much that Sara's chuckle turned into a belly laugh. "Why, she'll never know what hit her. She'll spill like o'l from an o'l rig"
Shaking her head, Sara looked back down at her list. Then a thought hit her. "You know, there is someone else who had motive, and could have had opportunity. Manny Rhodes."

"Hey, you got that right. Because of Johnson, she was losing one of her most popular guys, plus she hadn't been paid for the services he'd been rendering. I'll get in touch with Brass, get him to bring her in." Warrick flipped open his phone and called Brass. He filled him in and when he got off the phone, he told them that Brass was just going to head out there.

"Probably a good idea. A call might spook her." Turning to Nick, she patted him on the shoulder. "Well cowboy, time for you to go out and get yourself a girl." Smiling, he saluted and walked out the door. Looking at Warrick she asked, "So, what are we going to do?"

Raising his eyebrow, and doing his best Grissom imitation, he answered. "Wait."