"Well, doesn't this evening just get better and better." Greg quipped unhappily as he and Nick attempted to create a bed out of pillows on the floor, while the girls settled themselves at opposite ends of the couch.

With half the bed still going spare, Warrick had quickly claimed it, though the sight of Grissom in his stripy PJs almost made him reconsider.

Once the lights were switched off and everyone had finally stopped shuffling, an uneasy silence fell over the room. A few minutes later, the sounds of heavy breathing and light snoring began to reverberate off the tobacco stained walls.

As soon as she was satisfied that the guys were all asleep, Catherine sat upright and settled herself against the back of the couch.

Sara lifted her head, meeting her penetrating gaze in the dark, before following suit.

"Why didn't you tell me straight away about that note in your locker?" Cath asked, keeping her voice low so as not to wake anybody up.

"I just wanted it to go away." Sara mumbled, tucking her legs up to her chest protectively.

"Honey, it's not going to go away if you ignore it. Bullies don't work like that."

"Yeah, I know that. Believe me." Sara choked out an embittered laugh. "But you tried reporting them and that didn't work either."

"Oh, you think that's the worst I can do?" Catherine challenged. "That was just a warning shot. They don't even know what's coming their way now."

"Cat, please don't..."

Catherine placed a finger over her lips, silencing her. Cocking her head to the side, she listened intently.

"It's doing it again." She whispered.

Sara mirrored her actions, listening to the noise. Whatever it was, it was static at least. It sounded like it was coming from the other side of the building and didn't appear to be getting any closer.

Even still, it was enough to cause a shiver to run down Catherine's spine and she instinctively huddled closer to Sara.

"You're right," she grumbled, curling her legs up tighter beneath the blanket. "We should have gone back to the bus."

"What are you going to do about Vicki and Natalie?" Sara asked, not content to let the conversation drop. Cath flicked her eyes up, a sultry smile making its way across her lips.

"What, you don't trust me?"

x X x

The boys woke up first, although Nick quickly rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in the pillow, not quite ready to accept that it was morning yet.

Greg, slightly more alert than the Texan, sat up and appraised his surroundings.

Grissom and Warrick were still asleep, laid as far away from each other as the bed would allow, but still managing to snore in tandem with one another.

The girls were another story entirely.

At some point during the night, Catherine had turned herself around and was draped across Sara, her head on the brunette's shoulder, who in turn was curled against the arm of the couch.

Greg nudged Nick, who rolled onto his back to see the cause of his young mate's goofy grin.

At the sight of their sweet position, Nick matched Greg's expression. Holding up a finger to his lips, he reached for his cell phone and quietly crept over to the couch to snap a photo. Though he had no plans yet, he was certain it would come in useful for something down the line.

"Nicky, what are you doing?" Gil's voice, unexpectedly alert, startled him into dropping the device and it clattered onto the wooden floor. Catherine jumped at the noise, inadvertently scaring Sara awake too.

The girls blinked, perplexed to find Nick crouched in front of them, now-empty hand still raised, while Grissom continued to scowl suspiciously at the young man.

"What's going on?" Warrick grumbled, hauling himself up as well and dragging a hand over his springy hair.

"Never mind." Grissom replied, one suspiciously narrowed eye still watching Nick.

Catherine was holding herself up with one hand on the couch and the other on Sara's leg, attempting to work out just how they'd ended up in their sleeping position. As she blinked a few times to clear her vision, she caught sight of Greg smirking at her and cocked a disgruntled eyebrow.

"What?"

"Nothing." He flinched, quickly averting his gaze, but not before shooting a sly smile in Sara's direction.

The brunette, for her part, was not paying the slightest bit of attention to the proceedings. She had curled back up, burrowing her head inside her folded arms on the armrest of the couch.

Having sufficiently gathered her bearings, Cath straightened up and slapped her lightly on the back of her upper leg.

"Come on, girl." She chirped. "Time to get up."

"No."

Warrick sympathised completely with her; not that that stopped him from chuckling at her predicament. As she fidgeted, trying and failing to make herself comfy again, her t-shirt rode up, revealing a strip of her midriff and causing the dark-skinned CSI to inhale sharply.

"Damn girl!" He hissed. "Is that from the accident or did Cath beat you up last night?"

Finally, she appeared to wake up and abruptly pulled her shirt down. However, Catherine just as quickly lifted it back up, attempting to get a proper look at the injuries now it was daylight.

"Let me see." She scowled when Sara pushed her away.

"No." Sara retorted firmly, shuffling to the far side of the couch, out of reach.

"Sara, let me see." Cath pressed, sliding after her and causing the younger female to realise with dismay that she had effectively just boxed herself into a corner.

"It's fine. Leave it alone." She snapped.

"You let me see last night." Catherine pointed out, not understanding the issue.

"You didn't give me a choice last night."

"I'm not giving you a choice now."

The boys, by now, were greatly enjoying watching the show. As they spilled around the room in fits of laughter, Cath began to realise that Sara's fervent efforts to resist may have something to do with their audience.

"Alright fine," she huffed, taking Sara's arm and launching her in the direction of the bathroom. "Just get in there then."

Sara reluctantly allowed herself to be corralled into the little room and Catherine promptly locked them both in, affording her the necessary privacy to strip her colleague in peace.

Grissom stared at the closed door for a whole minute, not quite sure what he had just witnessed.

Turning back to the rest of his guys, he shook his head and attempted to wake himself up.

"Alright," he scratched himself absently, considering their situation. "Nick, you and Greg take your things back to your room and get washed up. Warrick, you do the same. We'll meet down in the lobby in an hour and see if we can get someone out to recover what's left of the bus."

Nick and Greg gathered up their blankets and pillows and they, along with Warrick sloped to the door.

"Aren't you coming?" Warrick asked, hovering in the threshold.

"I'm waiting for them to come out." Grissom explained. Warrick shot a sly look at the closed bathroom door, before slinking off with a small chuckle.

Alone in the room, Grissom sank onto the end of the bed and stared at the door.

He knew that Sara and Catherine had become closer recently, but he had not expected them to be quite that close.

x X x

After Catherine had emerged from the bathroom, leaving Sara to shower alone, only to find it vacant apart from a bemused Grissom, he had finally found himself chased out and the team all gradually got themselves dressed and ready to leave.

Downstairs in the lobby, they gathered at the small reception desk, awaiting some sign of life from the staff.

"Not real punctual around here, are they?" Nick asked, peering down the hall into what appeared to be a lounge area.

Finally, after the fourth time Gil rang the dusty little bell, a wizened old man appeared at the top of the stairs wearing faded brown slacks and a crumpled shirt.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He spluttered, limping his way unevenly down to greet them. "I didn't realise we had guests with us."

"We arrived late last night." Grissom explained, pulling out his wallet. "The lady let us in."

The old guy blinked at him.

"What lady?"

"The lady who works here?" Gil offered, his face falling when the guy shook his head.

"There's only me and my brother works here, sir, and he ain't no lady."

Behind the boss, the rest of the team shared a look of alarm at this news.

Grissom considered contesting the assertion that there was no woman working her, but a sharp nudge from Catherine made him think better of it and he quickly settled up the bill and ushered the team outside.

With the bright morning sun beaming down on them, it was a completely different scene to the night before. Even the dilapidated building looked less spooky.

"Ecklie's arranged a replacement van for us." Gil explained. "It should be here soon."

"Hey," Nick turned to them all uncertainly. "That guy was just screwing with us, right? About the woman?"

The rest of the team shared an awkward look and kept walking towards the edge of the parking lot to wait for their bus, nobody rising to the question. Nick stared after them for a moment, his voice beginning to crack when he spoke up again.

"I mean, that was just a joke ... right?"

x X x

Little red herring - they survived the creepy house!