A/N – Okay, I'm happier with what I wrote for the case file in this one. It's not resolved, by any means, but what the heck… it'll get there eventually.

Disclaimer – Does anyone even read the disclaimer?

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They looked tired, ambling into work barely in time for shift start. With only a domestic to process, Grissom walked into the break room, with Sara heading to the DNA lab to check the backlog. He felt the fatigue overlaying him and was glad he'd have a night off the next day, even if Sara had to work. The sheer number of hours he'd been putting in lately was getting to him.

"It's a slow night, everyone," Grissom announced, a single sheet in his hand. Looking to the newest addition of the team, he asked, "Nick, can you handle the rest of last night's case on your own?" At Nick's nod, Grissom turned to Wendy and said, "You and I will be handling a domestic tonight." Looking at Catherine, he smirked, "I believe there's plenty of paperwork if you end up with time on your hands."

Rolling her eyes, Catherine stood from her chair, and headed out with, "See you later, guys."

It was a few hours later when Sara found Greg and Warrick in the layout room. Having gotten rid of the backlog of DNA samples waiting for processing, she didn't want to deal with her own project, so sought them out to see how the case was going.

"Hey, guys," she said, entering the room.

Warrick looked up through tired eyes of his own, and smiled, "Hey, Sara."

"Get me caught up," she requested, and Greg relayed the blood experiment and information they'd come up with the delay before. When the young CSI told her about the bloody handprint, Sara frowned, "Why? Why would he do it? Where is he?"

"Brass put an APB out on Billy Gaunt," Warrick stated. "Until the evidence changes, we are making the assumption he's out there somewhere. He must be in the Vegas area if he was able to destroy the paintings."

Leaning against a counter, Sara lowered her head in thought, before murmuring, "He's very particular about his work." Catching the questioning looks from the two men, she continued, "When I went to the gallery he started off in several years ago, the gallery owner was getting ready to ring up a sale for a particular painting I'd chosen. However, before he could, the artist – Billy – started talking to me. He kept talking to me, asking questions, until he suddenly informed me I couldn't buy the painting I'd chosen. I just stood there confused, as he walked off. I was actually getting ready to leave when he came back."

Smiling, she finished, "He'd gone to the back room. He said after talking to me, the painting I was about to buy wasn't the right one, and he brought out the two paintings I ended up buying. He wanted me to have the paintings that represented my life, and that the two of them together made it complete."

"Did he tell you why you needed those two particular paintings?" Greg asked.

Smiling, she nodded. It was before she and Gil had gotten together – before the attraction had turned into the affair. She remembered what the young artist had said, "They're you and him, swirling around, but one day you'll find your centers, and fall into that simple point where everything becomes a single focus." For that reason, they hung in their living room.

Looking at the two men in the room, she said, "The reasons he gave are private," and felt her neck heat.

When they smirked at her, she diverted their attention with, "Now that I think of it, I saw him approaching everyone there." Closing her eyes and visualizing the hole-in-the-wall gallery, she said, "I think he was trying to match a person to just the right painting for them."

"He takes his art very personal," Greg stated. Looking again at the pictures, he sighed, "I just wish I could understand why he would mix his blood with the paint or put handprints all over the walls."

"We need to talk to Bella and Jim Gaunt again. I think they're going to have a better understanding of what motivates their brother," Warrick murmured. "Let me set it up with Grissom. He'll want to lead the interview."

A couple hours later, Grissom found Sara in her lab, but she wasn't working on her project. Instead, she lay on the new couch that had finally arrived. Running the back of his hand against her cheek, he softly whispered, "Rise and shine," and heard her murmur, "I'm awake – my eyes needed to rest, though."

"How was the domestic?" she asked, and watched shadows overlay his features. "That bad, huh?"

"I know Wendy's seen some domestics already – stabbings, battery and such, but this one was her first with kids," Grissom replied, thinking, I'm just glad you weren't there to see it. "Social services took two kids out of the house. Both parents were high, screaming at each other. The kids are covered in bruises, and the mother slammed one of them into the wall in front of the cops on scene. He was maybe five or six. She was so high it took two officers to get her cuffed."

Standing, she hugged her husband and kissed his cheek. "It sounds like you've had a long day already," she murmured.

On a heavy breath, he replied, "It looks like it's going to be even longer. Brass and I are meeting the Gaunts at PD at nine o'clock this morning."

Smiling, Sara said, "How about I come with you? I'm caught up in DNA, and shift will be over in a bit. Get some paperwork done, hide from Ecklie, and we'll escape." She chuckled when he grimaced at Ecklie's name.

Making his way down to Grissom's office, Sara paused at the sight of Wendy staring into her locker. "I'll meet you there," Sara quietly said, before peeling off in a different direction. At his questioning look, Sara shrugged toward the locker room, and he nodded in reply.

Standing in front of her own locker, Sara pulled out her jacket, and looked over at Wendy. It was hard to believe they were the same age, when most days Sara felt so much older. The CSI-in-training's face was blank, her eyes expressionless when Sara captured them with her own.

"It's hard," Sara quietly said. "When there are kids it's even harder."

Nodding, Wendy replied, "I don't know how all of you have dealt with it."

Smiling sadly, Sara stated, "I didn't. I left. I couldn't handle seeing it anymore." Moving to straddle the bench, facing Wendy, Sara continued, "You need to learn to put it away. You can't invest yourself in every case, or it will eat you from the inside out."

"How do you just put it away?" Wendy asked. "How do you not get involved?"

On a mirthless laugh, Sara responded, "If I knew that, I'd probably still be in the field."

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A/N – Okay, what do you think? Personally, it's better than the garbage I deleted yesterday. Please leave me a message and let me know. Thanks for taking the time to read this drivel.