A/N: Thanks to silverrain for coming up with the idea of trading scenarios. Horatio and Meghan's situation in this chapter is her creation, as is about half of the text. Both are borrowed (traded, actually…) from her story "Ancient History."

            Sara hated sexual assaults. Everyone knew that; and that was the reason Nick and Warrick were conversing quietly in a corner watching her. Not because she was a basket case, but because she wasn't. Sara was handling this assault scene like she would handle any crime scene. No rage, no stalking around hoping she could find the culprit and hit him.

            "Do you think she overheard the conversation we had with Grissom? And she's trying to prove him wrong?" asked a confused Nick.

            "Maybe. More likely she guessed what we were talking about – you know how Grissom's office is almost soundproof. Smart girl, it's not like she's not going to believe he invited us in for tea."

            That got a laugh from his friend. "Oh man, can you imagine Grissom drinking out of a tea set, pinkie up in the air . . .!" Nick shook his head, still chuckling, then caught sight of Sara approaching them. He elbowed Warrick in the ribs, muttering, "Incoming." Warrick, no fool, clammed up.

            "Hey guys," she said. "I think we're almost done here. Or at least, I'm almost done here. You two have been gossiping for the past twenty minutes." She grinned at their obvious discomfort. "Anyway, I'm going to go with the vic to get a rape kit done. I'll catch a ride back with one of the EMTs or something." The irony of this statement didn't escape her, and she had to laugh. "So, meet you guys back at CSI?"

Nick and Warrick shrugged. "Behave yourself," Nick reminded her as he turned to head back to the Tahoe. Sara chucked a small rock at his back, smiling when he yelped.

As it turned out, they arrived back at the labs at the same time as Sara. The victim's parents had been there and hadn't wanted a stranger anywhere near her. The rape kit would have to come back with one of the attending EMTs after they finished reporting. As the three pulled into the parking lot at CSI, they noticed a strange car in the staff parking lot. "Visitors?" Warrick asked skeptically. Nick shrugged and headed for the entrance, Sara behind him.

No one new when they passed through the doors, no one in the break room, no one with Greg in DNA. "Out in the field, maybe," Warrick posited. Nick only shrugged again.

They continued walking until they reached Grissom's office. "You know Grissom's gonna want to hear about Sara's sudden turn-around," Nick laughed. As they turned the last corner, they caught sight of a familiar profile.

"Yo, Nick," Warrick grinned. "Isn't that your friend?" he asked, drawing out "friend" in a suggestive way. Sara blinked, confused.

"Shut up man. You know Meghan's not my girlfriend. I'm telling you, she's going to end up with that redheaded guy down in Florida." As he spoke, the two approached the doorway. Without any introduction, Nick let out a whoop. "Meg!" he yelled, swooping her into a bear hug.

Meghan laughed and hugged him right back. "Hi, Nick. Glad to see you still haven't grown up."

Nick pouted in mock hurt. "You wound me, madame." Listening to Nick speak with half an ear, Sara observed the redheaded man who had come with Meghan, a stranger to all of them. He was busy giving them a once-over. Sara supposed it was only fair, since that was what she was doing to him.

Warrick walked over and hugged Meghan, but without the rambunctiousness of Nick. "Good to see you, Meg."

"You too, Warrick."

Horatio Caine, observing silently, noticed that the brown-haired woman had edged off to the side, and was now standing between Meghan and Grissom.

"Hey, Meg," she said softly, without even a hint of affection.

            "Sara!" Meghan grinned and went to hug her friend. To her surprise, Sara took a step back and spoke in a suspiciously emotionless voice. "What are you doing here, Meghan?"

Meghan turned to Horatio, suddenly remembering that he was, indeed, in the room. She smiled apologetically and held up one finger. "In a minute, Sara. First, introductions all around. Guys, this is Horatio Caine, head of the CSI department in Miami, and, for the moment, my new partner. Horatio, these are the CSIs here in Las Vegas. That's Sara Sidle," She pointed to the woman next to her. "Warrick Brown, and the hyperactive one over there is Nick Stokes." Everyone gave a round of brief smiles and nods.

"So, Meg, what did you want my help with?" Grissom asked.

Meghan brandished the jar holding the cocoon in it at Grissom. "My dear friend down in Miami left me a present at the scene. Only problem is, I can't unwrap it. I was hoping you could."

Grissom took the jar from her and examined it more closely. "What is it?"

"It's a cocoon," Horatio offered. "We just don't know what's inside."

"Your people down in Miami can't tell?"

"Nope. We had them look at it, but no one really specializes in bugs. So we have no idea what it is." There was a moment of tense silence.

"I guess I'll take a look. You'll have to wait a bit, though. Maybe an hour or so."  Meghan gave a sigh of relief and hugged Grissom tightly.

"Oh, thank you. You cannot possibly imagine how much you are helping me." Suddenly, Horatio noticed that Sara's face had turned noticeably redder. As he watched, Warrick put a hand on Sara's arm, as if to try to keep her from hitting someone.

Meghan released Grissom and turned to the room at large. A startled look crossed her face as she looked at Sara. The brunette appeared to be glaring at Grissom, and Meghan said the first thought that came to mind. "Does he not have time to help us?"

"Oh, no Meg," said Sara snidely. "I'm sure he has PLENTY of time for you." Nick and Warrick, the only two who knew exactly what was going on, both winced.

 Meghan chose to play dumb. She had a decent idea of what was angering her friend, but she wasn't going to say a word. "Okay, we'll be back in about an hour. You have my cell."

"Aw, come on Meg," Nick whined. "You're not going to stick around?"

She punched Nick playfully in response. "Nick, as much as I'd like to stay and knock you around, I have things I need to do. So we'll save the beatings for a later time, ok?" She turned around to face Grissom. "Speaking of which, Gris, why do you have a large handprint bruised into your face?"

Grissom blushed slightly and cast an annoyed glance at Sara. "The make-up must have . . ." he began, then interrupted himself with a cough. "I'll tell you later."

Looking around, Meghan caught an anxious glance from Warrick. She could tell that Sara had been growing angrier by the minute, and the progress showed no signs of stopping. Judging by the death glare she was receiving, it was about time to remove herself from Sara's presence. She decided to make haste and leave. "Okay then. See you guys in an hour."  

Nick turned to Sara when Meghan and Horatio had made their exit. "Hey, Sara . . . we need to, uh, we need to go over some evidence in the drying room. And you've got that rape kit to wait for." Nick hooked an arm around her waist and half-led, half-dragged Sara out of the room with Warrick bringing up the rear to prevent her escape.

With a concentrated effort, the two men managed to get Sara into one of the evidence rooms and out of Grissom's hearing. Nick tentatively released her, hoping she wouldn't retaliate.

 "That bastard!"

"Chill, Sar. You guys are both friends with Meghan, it's not like they were getting it on. He was just being nice."

"Nice? NICE??? She was all over him and he was eating it up! He was practically ogling her! Some friend, parading herself in front of my . . . in front of Grissom."

"She wasn't parading, Sara. Get real. First of all, she's not wearing a low-cut shirt, so there's not much to ogle. Second, she hugged him because he said he could help her, not because she's a sex fiend or something. It only looked like she was fawning – you know how you have to stroke Grissom's ego sometimes." Nick nodded definitively at what came out of his mouth. "Yeah, that's it. Besides, I'm convinced she's gonna end up with that Horatio guy one day, so trust me, you're not in any danger of losing Grissom."

"HAH! So you admit she was fawning! And . . . stroking!"

Warrick sighed. "This is gonna be a long night."