Sara forked down the last bite of her pancakes and looked up at Nick. "There, are you happy? I ate an entire plate of chocolate chip pancakes. I don't think I've eaten this much in one sitting since I was a kid. So why are we still here? Guys, we've been eating for almost two hours, what's the deal?"

Nick didn't answer her question. Instead, he smiled and said, "You've got some chocolate on the side of your mouth, Sara." He offered her his napkin. "Here, I'll get it."

Sara batted his hand away and scowled. "You guys must have an ulterior motive for this. Spill it, now." Taking a sip of coffee, she cocked an eyebrow at Warrick, who so far had been sitting and impassively observing her conversation with Nick. "Ok, fine. Nick's not talking. Your turn, Warrick. What's going on?"

Warrick coughed. "Nothing's going on, Sara. We just like going out with our coworkers every now and then."

"One-by-one?" She gave the men a dirty look and stood up. "If you're not going to tell me what's going on, I'm leaving. At least I can trick Grissom into telling me the truth about his plots, unlike you two."

Nick and Warrick exchanged looks. "Come on, Sar," Nick pleaded, "just stay a little while longer, ok?" He smiled charmingly and signaled the waitress for more coffee. "We're just fascinated by your little performance tonight. I certainly wish I could get the chance to try that on a female suspect."

Sara sighed. For whatever reason, these two were determined to keep her in the restaurant for as long as possible, and she had a feeling that if she tried to escape, Nick would tackle her. Now was the time for a little subterfuge. "Ok, ok. If I'm gonna stay, I've got to make room in my bladder for more coffee. I'll be back in a few minutes."

She walked toward the bathrooms, which were at an angle to their table, then veered off before she reached them. The exit was now in front of her and Sara grinned. Silly men, thinking they could trap Sara Sidle. Hadn't they learned anything about her while they watched that tape?

Warrick checked his watch. "Um, Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Sara's been gone for ten minutes. Do you think we should, like, check on her?"

Nick shook his head. "Nah. She's probably refreshing her makeup or something."

A large hand reached out and whacked Nick on the side of his head. "Nick! Listen to what you just said. Since when does Sara wear enough makeup to have to 'refresh' it? Either she's passed out in the bathroom or she got the hell out of this place while we sitting here with our heads up our asses."

Nick could only think of one response to that: "Crap!"

The men each threw twenty dollars on the table and took off for the entrance. Nick stared out the large window glumly. "Dude, we're idiots. Her car's gone." He ground the heel of his palm into his forehead. "What now? Should we call Cath and Grissom and warn them?"

Warrick sighed and started trying to think of the best way out of this disaster. "She's already on her way home, I'm sure. Their house is about fifteen, twenty minutes from here. That means there are three possible outcomes for this. One, we warn the others in time and they get set up for whatever they're planning. Two, we're not in time and Sara walks in on them setting up. Or three, Sara beats them home and they walk into the house to see her already there."

"I say we call," Warrick decided.

"Home or cell?"

Warrick shrugged. "Well if they're home and need the warning, they'll pick up the phone. If they're not home, even if we call them there's nothing they can do unless they want to hire someone to kidnap Sara for another hour. So I say we call the house."

"Ok," Nick said slowly, "makes sense. But they might want us to, like, tie her down or something if they're not home. I get the feeling Grissom's completely obsessed with this whole thing going the way he wants. So I'm overruling you and voting 'cell'." He quickly put a finger on the side of his nose in the international gesture for "not it" and grinned at Warrick. "And I'm not the one doing the calling, my friend."

"I wasn't done talking, no fair calling 'not it' before I'm done!"

"Face it, War, you were done, I beat you, and now you've got to call."

Still grumbling, Warrick dug his cell from his pocket and flipped it open. Not bothering to look at the numbers, he glared daggers at Nick while he dialed. "Phone's ringing."

"Hello?"

"Hi, Grissom? This is, uh, Warrick. Where are you guys right now?"

The fact that the boys were calling him before he'd called them did not bode well. "Catherine's on her way back to my house. I'm in the car heading for the jewelry store."

"Jewelry?" Warrick asked excitedly. "Are you proposing to her?"

"You'll just have to wait and see, Warrick. Now, why are you calling me?"

"Sara, um, escaped us. She's on her way home. We weren't sure whether you guys were ready yet, so we figured we'd give you a heads-up. She left IHOP about fifteen minutes ago."

Grissom muttered something crude. "How could you let her get away from you? You two know this is important!"

"Sorry, Gris, but she said she was going to the bathroom and then skipped out before it even occurred to us. So, uh . . . what do you want us to do now?"

"Hmm . . ." Grissom's mind raced, trying to find a solution. "Are you two up for a little bit of . . . a stronger type of persuasion?"

Nick, who was listening next to Warrick's ear, turned to look at his friend in surprise at the same time Warrick did. Their heads banged together and they both grunted, then Nick motioned at the phone. "Gimme, I'll talk to him." Warrick, glad to be relieved of the burden, handed it over.

"Hey Gris, it's Nick. What exactly do you mean by 'stronger'?"

"I'm thinking tied feet so she can't run away again. Then you two can take her wherever you want until Cath and I are ready."

Nick looked at the phone incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Not kidding."

"You're telling me that you want me and Warrick to kidnap Sara and tie her up so she can't go back to the house?"

"That is what I just said, Nicky. Now, will you do it?" Grissom heard the sound of hands being slapped in the background and smiled. If they were high-fiving each other, that meant they'd do it. "Is that a yes?"

"Yes! Just keep in mind that you told us to do this. It better not come back to haunt us later. And you'd better be ready to keep Sara from killing us once we untie her."

"Not a problem. Now go!" Grissom flipped the phone shut and shook his head, amazed at his own gall. He might be sleeping on the couch for a week after this stunt, but he was hoping the surprise was enough to make Sara feel charitable.

A/N: Ooooh, the suspense. You'll find out what Grissom's plotting sometime in the next few chapters, I promise. Oh, and IHOP, for those of you who don't have them, is a restaurant that specializes in creative breakfast foods – pancakes, French toast, etc. I think the chain is country-wide, but I'm not positive, so if they don't exist in Vegas, let's just pretend.