DISCLAIMER: I own nothing here. Please don't sue me. 'Nuff said.

Chapter 2:

"You know you're gonna have to show it to me after shift's over." Sara opened her car door, and headed to the back of the Tahoe. Warrick laughed. It was nice talking shop with Sara about something other than work. They tended to be too competitive when it came to work matters recently.

"Man, she wants you to show it to her!" Nick couldn't resist elbowing Warrick, and got a hard elbow back in response.

"Man, shut up!" He laughed.

The three headed off-road towards the flashing police lights out in the desert. They were met by an all-too-familiar site, a couple of bodies with sheets pulled over them, and Archie kneeling over them.

"Whenever you guys are through, I'll be happy to get out of here. This one gives me the creeps." He stood up and retreated to the van away from the scene.

Sara peered down at the arm that lay sticking out from under the sheet. It still held a large Bowie knife covered in blood. She glanced over at the other covered form a few feet away. It was much smaller and surrounded by a pool of blood. Warrick carefully pulled the sheet away from the smaller victim to reveal a young girl in her early teens. Her neck was slashed ear to ear.

The trio set out to collect blood samples and take as many pictures as needed. Warrick bagged the apparent murder weapon, and headed back to the SUV with the evidence. Nick sighed and shook his head. Sara remained silent as she took photos. Nobody liked a case that dealt with a murdered child. They headed back to the lab in relative quiet. It wasn't like they hadn't each seen worse, but it was a lousy end to a rough week.

"I'll take the evidence in to trace. Check me in, will ya?" Warrick headed towards the DNA labs lugging his case full of evidence and his Gretch.

"Yeah." Nick waved him on, and signed them in at the front desk.

Sara walked back towards Grissom's office to fill him in on what they'd found. She found him sitting at his desk pouring over paper work. End of pay period paper work was something Grissom always saw as a waste of his time, and it never helped his mood any. He looked up at Sara's somber face and frowned.

"What'd you find?" He leaned back in his chair and massaged the bridge of his nose. The start of a bad headache was coming on, and there was little he could do to stop it other than dim his work lights.

"Two bodies. One appears to be the murderer. The other is a young girl. Warrick's running the evidence through trace. Hopefully we'll find out if there's a relationship between them. Neither had any ID on them, and there were no nearby tire tracks to indicate they drove to the site." Sara sat down in front of his desk.

"Camp site's not too far from there. Did you check with the park rangers to see who got a camping permit recently?"

"Nick's making the call. We recovered what looks like the murder weapon. We'll know for sure when Greg's done with the blood samples." Sara looked at Grissom with concern. He was kneading his brow like he was in pain. "Headache?"

"Yeah. It'll pass. Good work. Keep me informed." With that Grissom got up and walked out, leaving Sara sitting alone in the dimly lit office.

After shift, Warrick walked to his car alone. The sun was rising quickly over the city, and he was beat.

"Hey!"

Warrick turned to see Sara walking towards him with her duffle bag slung over her shoulder.

"You never showed me your new ax." She smiled at him as she approached. He returned the grin.

"I didn't, did I?" He threw his own bag into his car, and laid the guitar case out across his hood. Carefully undoing the latches, he opened the case to reveal a beautiful, full-bodied six-string electric guitar with a double humbucker pick-up, a wammy bar, and gold-coated hardware. The finish was a glossy golden tone, and the fretboard was a dark brown with mother-of-pearl inlays. Sara nodded respectfully at the impressive instrument.

"Nice!" She grinned.

"You ought to come hear it in action this evening at the Blue Note Café. Still can't believe you play." He smiled.

"Like I said. I dabble. I'm not gonna be up on a stage any time soon. I might stop in. What time?" She put on her sunglasses as they spoke.

"Well, we'll be setting up around eight, but we don't really get going 'til around nine thirty. You're welcome to swing by early to meet the gang. Nick said he's try to show up too before shift."

"Sounds good. I may even stick around. I'm off tonight. Maybe I'll get Nick to help me scream your name out like your own little groupie section." She laughed at the prospect.

"Oh, yeah. That'd go over great!" He laughed and put the guitar gently on his backseat. "Well, ok then. See you guys tonight!"

Sara watched as he pulled away, and headed over to her Yukon. She smiled as she got in and drove home to sleep.

TBC