"Okay guys," Ecklie strode into the room, cutting off their hushed conversation mid-sentence. "The Sheriff wants this case dealt with as expeditiously as possible – the commissioner being caught at the scene of a double murder does not look good, so we need to get it wrapped up as soon as possible."

"Okay, well we're going to need a lot of hands on the scene." Grissom exhaled. "We'll take Sara, Warrick and Greg – Nicky can pick up the slack with the Summerlin burglaries."

"No." Catherine interjected. "Put Sara on the burglaries – Greg can work the main scene with us and then help her out once we're done with evidence collection."

"Sara will be better working the homicides." Grissom frowned, puzzled by the switch. "Nick always wants to work solo."

"No, I want to keep Sara off this one." She insisted firmly. "She'll be fine."

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a sly smirk spreading its way across Ecklie's lips.

"Catherine, what's going on?" He asked, as Grissom also raised a curious eyebrow.

"Nothing." She said as nonchalantly as she could. "Sara just has some stuff going on; she doesn't need the pressure of a high-profile case right now."

Ecklie continued to wear his cocky grin, but it was Grissom who was making her uncomfortable as ge appraised her with a sceptical frown.

"Catherine," he licked his lips, gathering his thoughts. "If Sara can't cope with her workload..."

"She can." She cut him off abruptly, making a point of catching Ecklie's eye as well. "But as her supervisor, I need to put her welfare first and I don't believe it would be in her best interests to work this case right now. Do either of you have a problem with that?"

The tone of her voice didn't leave much room for argument and Grissom pursed his lips silently.

"Alright," Ecklie conceded, his expression faltering ever so slightly. "Send Sara to Summerlin and have Greg join her as soon as he's available."

Satisfied that he had done his job, he left, casting a sly look in Catherine's direction on his way out. She had no doubt that he was revelling in the fact that Sara was struggling, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of letting him know that he had got to her.

Alone, Grissom turned to face her.

"I guess we'd better round up the guys and get going." She said, trying to step around him.

"What's going on with Sara?" He asked, ignoring her.

"That's not your concern." She answered immediately. He held her gaze for a long moment, as if trying to search for the answer in her face. Eventually, he dropped his eyes and she stepped around him towards the hall, although she could still feel him watching her long after she left the room.

x X x

"Hey Sara," Nick breezed into the locker room. "Tough shift."

"Yeah, I heard." She hummed, her back remaining to him while she rummaged through her bag, perched on the edge of her locker. "You guys making headway with it?"

"Yeah, I guess." He mused, pulling his t-shirt over his head and tossing it onto the bench. "We've got a lot of stuff to go through though."

His movements caught her eye and she cast a quick glance over her shoulder, losing her grip on her bag in t he process and causing it to slip onto the floor.

Nick turned at the sound, raising an eyebrow at her uncharacteristic clumsiness. Sara muttered something under her breath, crouching down to pick up her stuff. Nick, abandoning his search for a clean shirt for the time being, moved around the bench and knelt down to help.

"Thanks." She mumbled gratefully, accepting the items he offered out to her. As she tossed them back into her bag, Nick spotted something which had slipped under the bench and he picked it up, his stomach slowly sinking at the familiar logo.

"Hey, where did you get this?" He asked, his voice hitching. She flicked her eyes up to see what he was holding and her brown orbs widened.

"That's nothing." She answered hurriedly, snatching it back out of his hands and standing up.

He rose with her, pointing at the leaflet which was now stashed in her bag once again.

"Where did you get it?" He repeated. "Did Catherine give you that?"

"Maybe." She answered, studiously avoiding his gaze. "What's it to you?"

He stared at her for an uncomfortably long moment, weighing up the situation. He couldn't believe that Catherine would share his most intimate secret with Sara, but that was the same leaflet she had shown him when she tried to refer him to a counsellor. Which could only mean...

"Did ... did Catherine make a referral for you?" He asked, lowering his voice. This time when Sara flicked her gaze towards him, she held it for a moment.

"Yeah, she did." She answered quietly, casting her eyes downward again. Nick's expression softened. Suddenly it made sense why Catherine had randomly decided to make a referral for him now, after all this time. She had been killing two birds with one stone.

"Yeah, me too." He offered, suddenly feeling exposed – and not just because of his state of undress. Sara looked up, attempting to read him. Nick usually wore his heart on his sleeve, but right now he was wearing a mask that she couldn't quite see through.

"You're going too?" She queried carefully.

"No, no I turned it down." He explained, crossing his arms over his bare chest. She nodded slowly.

"You should go." She replied as non-judgementally as she could. "They ... they do help."

Although neither had actually proffered an explanation regarding why Catherine had made referrals for them, a silent understanding passed between the two of them, and the mask started to slide away.

Wordlessly, Nick reached out and dragged Sara into a strong hug. The move caught her off guard, but she returned it, wrapping her arms around his back, feeling his hot breath behind her ear.

"Hey now," Warrick's playful voice interrupted the sweet moment. "You're supposed to hang a tie on the door."

Sara laughed nervously, stepping out of Nick's reach and turning her back to the room to hide the nervous blush creeping up her cheeks. Nick picked up his shirt from the bench and tossed it playfully at Warrick, making a joke that Sara never heard.

As the two boys began to rib each other, Sara excused herself and slipped towards the door, casting a grateful smile back at Nick on her way. In return, he raised his hand to his face in an 'I'll call you' gesture.

x X x

"Ahem."

The quiet interruption drew her attention to the door and she looked up, a warm smile spreading across her lips.

"Hey Nicky," She greeted. "What's up?"

"Hey Catherine," Nick stepped into the room, gesturing towards the door. "Do you mind?"

"No, go ahead." She frowned, watching curiouslyas he closed the door and peered out nervously to make sure no one was heading this way who might interrupt them.

"What's going on, Nick?" She asked gently, sensing the waves of nervousness washing off the young man as he shuffled his feet in front of her.

"Well, I ... I wanted to ask you..." he fidgeted, taking a moment to steady himself. "I wanted to ask you whether you still had that number for the counselling service."

She had been running through a list of possible concerns in her head, but that had not been something she expected him to say. She blinked, staring at him for a long moment, before reaching into her drawer and extracting the pamphlet. He smiled gratefully, accepting it with a shaky hand.

"Why the change of heart?" She asked carefully. He sniffed, clearing his throat.

"I , uh, I talked to Sara." He answered, causing a flash of something to flicker across her face before she had chance to hide it. Nick nodded in understanding at her wordless confession. "Yeah, I know that you referred her as well."

"Nick, you know that I can't discuss anything pertaining to Sara with you..."

"It's okay," he held up his hands. "She told me, about her brother."

If Catherine was surprised by this turn of events, she was shocked to hear this, but tried to disguise it behind professional protocol.

"Be that as it may, anything she's told me in confidence..."

"Relax, Cath." Nick smiled, a wide kindly smile. "I'm not here to talk about that anyway. I just wanted to get this, and to say thanks."

She shook her head in bemusement.

"For what?"

"For looking out for me. And her. She told me what you've done for her and how much the counselling has helped her." He waved the leaflet in the air. "I guess it can't hurt to give it a go, right?"

"Right." She smiled proudly at him. She genuinely had not expected him to change his mind, and she certainly had not expected her two teammates to take it upon themselves to confide in one another. Maybe she didn't have to worry about them so much after all?

He turned to leave, folding the leaflet into his pocket. At the door, she called him back.

"Hey Nicky," she exhaled, practically feeling a weight lift off her shoulders. "I'm really glad that you and Sara talked to each other."