These characters are the property of Anthony Zuiker and many other people who are making a profit from them.  I don't happen to be one of them.  No copyright infringement is intended.  In fact, AZ and company should be pleased, as imitation is the highest form of flattery.

Thanks, as always, to my betas Alison and Margaret, without whom I'm not sure I would have tried my hand at a WIP (when it was one).  Their wisdom also convinced me to have the entire fic completed before I began posting it – definitely a smart move considering how long this has taken.  You two are the best!

~*~*~

Once in the hospital, all discussion of their situation ceased.  Catherine had already located a hospital administrator by the time Grissom and Sara arrived and had assigned Nick and Warrick to conduct an initial sweep of the missing girl's room.

"Sara, why don't you go to security and start to review any and all surveillance tapes from the time in question."

"Right."  Her own fears put aside for now, Sara was all business, the matter of finding the missing girl foremost in her mind.

Catherine introduced Grissom to Andrew Spellman, Mountain View's head administrator.  The short man shook Grissom's hand firmly and launched right into his account of the events of the evening.  "As I was telling your associate, Keri Fuentes is a 17 year-old patient recovering from an appendectomy.  Ms. Fuentes is developmentally disabled.  She was in a semi-private room, but had no roommate after 11 this morning.  She was last seen, in her room, at 7:30 this evening, just before the nursing staff shift change."

"You said she is developmentally disabled; how severely?  Would she have been able to fight off an attacker?"

"According to the nurses I spoke with, she was very easily led; she may well have willingly left with a stranger.  Or she may have wandered off on her own and gotten lost somewhere in the building."

"What happened once it was discovered she was missing?"

"Per our security policy, the head floor nurse called a Code Amber, which dictates that all nonessential exits are locked and all others are monitored by security personnel.  No one may exit the hospital without being checked by security.  Other security guards, as well as the police, are in the process of a thorough search of the entire hospital facility."

If Grissom understood the timing correctly, an entire shift of employees left the building before the code was called and security was stationed at the doors.  "What time did security take their places at the exits?"

Regarding the clipboard he had been holding but had previously not referred to, Mr. Spellman responded, "Approximately 8:15."

"And what time do the nurses get off shift?"

"Mr. Grissom, if you are suggesting that one of my nurses - "

"I'm not suggesting anything, Mr. Spellman, but the police are going to need to question all staff members who left the hospital before security was put in place.  Are the nurses the only people changing shift at that time?"

"No.  Many of our departments also change shift at the same time, from radiology to janitorial."

"We're going to need lists of all those people."

"I'll get right on that.  Is there anything else?"  At the shake of Grissom's head, he left to complete his task.

They had their work cut out for them.  It was going to be a very long night.

~*~*~

After dawn, in a tiny hide-away in the back of one of the boiler rooms, a Highlights magazine that belonged to Keri was found.  Her fingerprints were discovered, among other places, on the metal edge of the small cot in the room.  Several other sets of prints were retrieved, as well as traces of semen in the bedding.  Since all employees in the hospital were required by policy to be fingerprinted, quick work was made of identifying the people who had been in the room.  All but one of them, a medical student by the name of Gregory Stephens, were cleared of suspicion.

While the police continued their search for the girl, and now the med student, the criminalists were escorted to Stephens' apartment to seek out any evidence that Keri had been there.  When they found none, there was nothing left for them to do but wait for her to be found.

By the time they finished, it was well into the day shift at the lab.

Sara, coming from a quick clean up in the locker room, stopped by Grissom's office on her way out.  "You're not waiting here for word, are you?"

Eased somewhat by her gentle tone, he admitted the truth.  "Sort of.  I keep hoping that if I stay just another five minutes, the call will come in saying that she's been found.  Alive."

"You can wait for that call at home, you know.  Besides, there's no need to stay here; the DNA analysis of the seminal fluid won't be complete before our next shift begins…"  She trailed off, remembering that they had Ecklie's deadline to meet in the next few hours.

Picking up on her train of thought, Grissom sighed.  He had actually forgotten for a while.  Unfortunately, they no longer had the luxury of being distracted by work.  "We need to finish that talk, don't we?"

Arriving at Grissom's townhouse thirty minutes later, only a few minutes after him, Sara was surprised to find him cutting fruit while an omelet cooked on the stove.

Noticing the expression on her face, Grissom responded with a shrug.  "Figured we could use some nourishment.  You want to eat at the counter or the table?"

Grabbing silverware and glasses, Sara set them up on the dining room table.  Returning to the kitchen to get juice from the fridge, Sara muttered, "Kind of feels like we're preparing for a Last Supper or something."

Putting the knife down, Grissom turned and gathered Sara in his arms.  "It's not that bad," he whispered into her hair.

Pulling back to look him in the face, she asked, "How can you say that?  Ecklie knows about us!  And the smarmy bastard is trying to blackmail us into - "

"'Trying' is the operative word here, Sara.  He hasn't done anything yet, and he can't do anything that we don't let him do."

Sara took a step back, coming out of his grasp, but grabbing onto his hands.  "You've got a point there, I suppose.  Whether he runs to Carvallo or makes me the next day shift supervisor," she raised her eyebrows, "it's ultimately our decision, isn't it?"

"If that's what you're limiting us to, that sounds about right."  With this, he moved from her to give the omelet one last turn before putting it on their plates.

She cocked her head to the side and pursed her lips in thought.  "What are you talking about?"

"Nine dots on a page…"

The smile that lit Sara's face was the first real one since she walked into Ecklie's office yesterday.  "We need to think outside the box."

"One of us on a bad day has got to be more clever than Ecklie could ever hope to be."  Handing Sara the bowl of fruit, Grissom picked up both plates and nodded her out of the kitchen ahead of him. "C'mom, let's eat and mull this over."

Seated at the table, they dug in as Sara started.  "Okay, let's look at the facts first."  She ticked them off on her fingers as she spoke.  "One:  you and I are in a relationship that would be considered 'inappropriate' at best by our bosses, and could get us both in a lot of trouble.  Two:  Ecklie has evidence of this relationship.  Three:  Ecklie has offered to keep his mouth shut about us if you support him in his bid for lab director and I switch to days.  And if we don't accept his terms in the next," she looked at her watch, "three hours, he'll go to Carvallo with the tape.  Four:  we find those options reprehensible and unacceptable."  She paused for a moment and regarded Grissom, who seemed to be deep in thought.  "So.  What do you think?"

"I think it would be in our best interest not to let Ecklie go to Carvallo."

"And how do we avoid that?  You're not actually suggesting we go along with this, are you?"

"Well, Conrad did say he wouldn't give us any grief about our relationship if he got what he wanted and became the lab director."

"And you believe him?  Besides, if I go to days, we can't be accused of doing anything wrong, since you'll no longer be my supervisor."

"That's a point."

Sara's mouth dropped open.  "Are you telling me you want me to move to days, Gil?"

A small smile graced his face.  "No, I'm not, and no, I don't.  Not on a professional level, or a personal one.  You shouldn't have to make that kind of sacrifice.  Besides, working on separate shifts, we'd hardly get to see each other."

"I'm glad you see it that way too.  Besides, I'd probably end up murdering Ecklie before the end of the first week and…Hey, now that's an idea!"

"What?"

"We could kill Ecklie."  She gave him a sly grin to emphasize that she was only kidding but was certainly willing to enjoy the fantasy.  "Who better to commit the perfect crime than a couple of criminalists?"

"Don't think it hasn't crossed my mind too," Grissom surprised Sara by saying, "but as you noted, we've only got three hours.  It's not possible to plan and complete the perfect murder, as well as cover up said act, in that amount of time."

The laughter that exploded from Sara brightened his mood immensely.  Except for murder, Grissom realized, there wasn't much he would not do for her.  Maybe it was time to let Sara know that.

"I could always resign."

Still chuckling and wiping the tears from her eyes, Sara was sure she must have misheard him.  "What did you just say?"

"You don't want to be on days, and we can't murder Ecklie.  It occurs to me that my role in this hasn't been explored yet.  Perhaps I should resign."

Sara was stunned.  "But…but, you don't want to do that, do you?  I mean, have you thought about this before?"

"No, I haven't really given it any thought until now.  But it may be something to consider.  I could hire myself out as a consultant to other labs, maybe teach a few courses at UNLV, go on the lecture circuit, race cockroaches full time…"  He gave her a smile to soften the blow of his proposal.

"Not funny, Grissom.  If you really want to do any of those things, then fine, I'll support you a hundred percent.  But it doesn't work as a solution to our problem."

"Why not?"

"Same reason my moving to days wouldn't – we'd never get to spend any time together.  Even less if you start traveling."  She began to gnaw on her thumb's cuticle in frustration.

It was quiet for a few moments before Grissom spoke up, inspired by his previous line of thought.  "How about if I give up the supervisor position?"

Sara looked up from her hand and studied him but did not respond immediately.  "Can you do that?  I mean, will they let you?"

"Only one way to find out."

"Are you sure you want to?"

"Sara, I never wanted to be shift supervisor.  It was only supposed to be a temporary solution after Brass was transferred back to homicide when Holly was killed."

"So you'd be, what, a regular CSI?"  Sara was becoming excited at the prospect.  "And you'd be comfortable with that?"

"More than comfortable.  I hate the supervisory aspect of this job.  Now that I think about it, in fact, I'm embarrassed it didn't occur to me sooner."  He grinned.  "If I'd have thought to do this months ago, we wouldn't be in this mess right now."

Getting up from her chair and circling to him, Sara embraced Grissom from behind and kissed his cheek.  "Don't do that to yourself; hindsight's always twenty-twenty.  If this is really what you want to do, it looks like we've found ourselves a solution.  Thank you."  She kissed him again.  "When do you want to tell Carvallo?"

"I should call right now and see if I can get an appointment with him before shift starts."

Sara moved Grissom's plate out of the way and settled a hip on the table next to him.  "You mean before Ecklie's deadline?"

Raising his eyebrows, he replied, "That too."

"Good – Ecklie won't know what hit him."  Sara was more than satisfied with the idea of pulling an end-run around the day shift supervisor.  Then another thought suddenly struck.  "Gris, what if Carvallo wants to know why?"

Grissom sighed as he considered Sara's question.  She was right; Carvallo would probably ask for a reason.  And there was no telling how Ecklie would react once he realized they had yanked the rug out from under him; he might very well tell Carvallo what he knew out of spite.  Better for Grissom to be truthful, he believed, especially since their relationship should not be an issue once he was no longer Sara's supervisor.

"I think I should be honest.  Tell him I have a personal conflict and that the most beneficial move for the lab would be for me to step down as supervisor."

"Then I guess that settles it."

Reaching to pick up his phone, Grissom froze mid-motion.  "Shit."

"What is it?"

"It might not settle anything."

"Why not?"

"Think about it for a minute, Sara.  If I step down as shift supervisor, who do you think will be offered the job?"

She answered immediately, "Catherine.  She's got the seniority."

"She's also got a five-day suspension under her belt, from Carvallo, for causing the lab explosion - "

"That was an accident Gil, it could have happened to any of us."

"And her proficiency exam had to be reviewed last year - "

"It came out in her favor, and can hardly be used against her now."

"Plus there was the whole situation with Sam Braun."

"Yeah well, that was…"  While trying to come up with the appropriate word, Sara tried to figure out how they had gotten into a conversation about Catherine in the first place.  Tracing it back to the beginning, realization finally struck.  "You're trying to say Cath's not a shoe-in for shift supervisor."

He nodded.  "In fact, I think Ecklie had the right idea when he suggested that you could do the job."

"So you think if you give it up, Carvallo would offer it to me?"

A sad smile appeared on Grissom's face as he touched his pointer finger to the tip of his nose in the universal "You got it!" gesture.

"Well I don't want it – I'll just turn it down."

"Look how well that worked for me."

"Shit."  Sara unknowingly returned where Grissom started just moments before.

"Exactly."

Pondering the issue for a bit longer, Sara proposed, "Maybe when you talk to Carvallo you should be more specific about the nature of your 'personal conflict.'  That way he won't even consider me for your replacement.  Let him give it to Warrick – he'd do a good job, too."

Grissom raised an eyebrow.  "Really?  You didn't seem to think so last time I left him in charge."

Waving him off, she explained, "That was just because I was pissed at you for not leaving me in charge first."  She winked and flashed him a grin as she handed him the phone.  It rang before he had the chance to dial.

"Grissom."  Shooting a concerned look at Sara, he listened to the voice at the other end.  "I'll get Sara or Catherine and we'll be there as soon as possible."  Hanging up, he filled Sara in, "Keri Fuentes was found in a park a mile from the hospital.  Brass says she looks as if she's sustained a beating, at the very least."

"Let's go."

The phone call to Carvallo suddenly low on their priority list, Sara and Grissom rushed back to Mountain View Hospital to talk to and gather evidence from the teenager.  Since sexual assault was a possibility, Sara assisted a nurse in collecting a rape kit as well.  Because she did not entirely understand what was being done to her, Keri was extremely agitated, and the entire process took much longer than it ordinarily would have.  Sara's stomach turned at the thought that they were causing the girl as much trauma now as she had experienced during the assault itself.

By the time they left the hospital, their shift was about to begin.  In the Tahoe, Sara drove while Grissom called Catherine to ask her to assign any new cases as appropriate and inform her that he and Sara were off to the park, which they would comb for further evidence of the crime and its perpetrator.

"We missed Ecklie's deadline," Grissom stated simply.

Sara could not read the emotion in his voice.  "Yeah.  Well…I wonder if he'll really follow through just yet.  Maybe he'll want to give us a little more time to come to him – especially if he knows we've spent most of the past 24 hours on a case."

"The outcome will likely be the same in either case; Carvallo will still know about us.  Now it's just a matter of who gets to him first."

"True, but it would be a lot better if he hears it from you.  Don't you think he'd be more willing to agree with you if he doesn't think you're being forced into your decision?"

"You just want to screw Ecklie."

"To the wall.  With a freakin' nail gun."  She presented him with a wry grin.  "And I was thinking that while you were in with the director, I'd pay a visit to good ole Eck and tell him that we might forget to mention to Carvallo that his day shift supervisor tried to blackmail us if he hands over that tape."

Grissom feigned shock as he glanced at the woman he loved.  "Sara Sidle, who knew you had such a devious mind?"

"Nobody messes with me and my man," she responded with all seriousness.

~*~*~

Returning to the lab several hours later with evidence from Keri and the park in hand, Grissom and Sara were greeted by a receptionist with messages for them.  "Dr. Grissom, Ms. Sidle, Director Carvallo was looking for you earlier.  He waited for a bit but then went home when Ms. Willows said you wouldn't be back any time soon.  Um, he said he'd like to see you both in his office, first thing in the morning."

"Thanks, Sandy."

Continuing on toward the DNA lab, Sara observed quietly, "Well, I guess I wrong about Ecklie.  Damn!"

Sara did not know if it was a good thing or not that they ended up working in the lab for the remainder of their shift.  On the one hand, her mind frequently wandered to thoughts of the upcoming meeting with Carvallo.  She was sure she would have been able to keep her mind off it if she was in the field.  On the other hand, as long as they were not called out to a scene in the next hour or so, they would be able to simply walk to Carvallo's office at the appointed time.  Being out in the field with any of the other CSIs, Sara could not imagine how she and Grissom would explain their sudden departure.

Grissom worked in his office for the rest of the night.  While he wanted to spend the time working with Sara, he was afraid their conversation would repeatedly drift back to their situation if they were together.  Frankly, there was no more thinking to do on the issue, and he believed that any more time spent worrying about it would just lead to more stress.  Before they parted ways, he and Sara agreed that the fact that Carvallo already knew about their relationship would not change their approach significantly.  Grissom would still offer to step down as shift supervisor if necessary.  He just hoped it would be enough.  Carvallo was a hard man to predict.  While he could not fire them, he could make their professional lives miserable.  One or both of them could be demoted, Sara could be transferred to days, or suspended from fieldwork  Any of those things, if seized upon by a defense attorney, could potentially be used to damage their credibility on cases they had worked.

As Grissom and Sara walked the halls of CSI headquarters toward Lab Director Carvallo's office that morning, Sara mentally berated herself for craving nothing more than to grab Grissom's hand.  She was not exactly sure what she wanted to do with it, but there were fleeting thoughts of just pulling him out of the building and never turning back.  The rest of her, however, simply wanted to draw on his strength and offer him hers.

Grissom supposed they should be grateful that Carvallo did not keep them waiting.  They were ushered immediately into his office by his secretary.  Grissom allowed Sara to walk through the doorway first, giving him the opportunity to rest his hand lightly on the center of her back for a moment.  He wanted to remind her that they were together in this, regardless of the outcome.

Carvallo stood and shook hands with each of them as they took chairs in front of his desk.  When he sat, both criminalists noticed the tape directly in front of him.

Carvallo spoke first.  "I believe you know why you're here."

"I'm not sure that I do, Robert."  This was from Grissom, who was not about to be the first to show his hand.

"Then I'll spell it out for you."  He picked up the video and tapped his index finger on the long edge of it several times.  "It has been alleged that you, Shift Supervisor Grissom, and you, CSI Sidle, are involved in a sexual relationship."  When the criminalists remained silent, Carvallo continued, "Do either of you confirm or deny that?"

Sara spoke up next, "I don't think you can legally ask that question.  Sir."

"After viewing the evidence on this tape, I believe I already know the answer."

"Oh?  Does that tape show us having a 'sexual relationship?'"  Sara was becoming increasingly angry.  "If not, I'd suggest your 'evidence' is circumstantial, at best."

Grissom glanced at Sara.  He knew she was on her way to becoming irate, and that would not bode well for them; they needed to remain in control.  "Robert, neither Sara nor I are going to confirm or deny anything.  What we will say is that nothing that goes on outside of this lab has had a negative impact on the team or our ability to do our jobs."

"That may be the way you see it, Gil, but I can assure you, the Sheriff and I are acutely aware of the fact that you and CSI Sidle have opened this department up to tremendous embarrassment and liability."

"Sara and I have never done anything to compromise a case."  He let the offense he took be known.

"Whether or not that is true doesn't matter, Gil.  You know it as well as I do.  As soon as word of this gets out, every defense lawyer in Vegas is going to do cartwheels down the Strip.  They won't be able to keep the smiles off their faces as they rip your credibility to shreds on the stand."  Carvallo noticed Sara was about to speak, but he cut her off.  "Especially yours, CSI Sidle, since your career here has been built largely on CSI Grissom's recommendations and evaluations, all of which are now tainted."

It took every ounce of restraint Sara had to keep her voice modulated and remain seated.  "My record can stand on its own.  I have the highest solve rate of anyone on my team, and that has nothing to do with what's written in my evaluations."

Not liking the direction this conversation was taking, Grissom allowed some of his anger to come through.  "Robert, my reviews of Sara's work have always been objective and accurate.  If I am forced to defend each and every one of them, I will."

"Well I'm certainly glad to hear that, because you're going to have to do a hell of a lot of defending of your actions from here on out."  Carvallo was tired of trying to keep his demeanor professional.  He had assumed the last person he would have to rip a new asshole one day would be Gil Grissom.  The man did not appear to have a life outside of this department and his bugs, and Carvallo resented the fact that his sexcapades were going to sully the good reputation of his lab.

That thought was the last straw.  His control slipped and he practically hissed, "What the hell were you thinking, Doctor Grissom?!  Or were you thinking with anything other than your - "  Realizing he had stepped over the line, Carvallo tried to bring it down a bit.  Taking a deep breath, he continued in a more reasonable tone of voice, "I just hope for your sake that whatever's going on between you two is worth it.  Did it not occur to you that it would be professional suicide to become involved with a subordinate?  Or how about the fact that you hand-picked her to come work here – did you even stop to think about how that would look?  Explaining your reviews of CSI Sidle's work will be the easy part, I can promise that."

Grissom's expression went to ice and he glared at his boss. "And I can promise that my career will thrive no matter where I choose to pursue it.  So I'll advise you now that if you can't keep your comments both productive and professional, I will walk."  He continued to hold Carvallo's gaze until he was sure the lab director knew he was serious.

Nodding his head slightly in understanding, Carvallo proceeded to the next topic.  "I think it would be best right now to consider what kind of damage control needs to be implemented in order to diminish the appearance of impropriety once word of this leaks beyond the boundaries of this office."

"If word gets out.  It doesn't have to.  Couldn't you just order Ecklie to keep his mouth shut?"  This was from Sara, who was still mildly surprised by Grissom's show of testosterone in his threat to quit.

"And implicate myself in a cover-up?"  He paused and looked at them.  Grissom got the distinct impression that, despite the use of the inflammatory words, that's just the way this would have played out if Ecklie had stumbled across them in person and did not have their images trapped forever on celluloid.

"That would be all well and good, Ms. Sidle, if evidence, however circumstantial, did not exist.  It could easily be chalked up to baseless suspicion, or even professional jealousy, knowing what I do about Conrad Ecklie.  Unfortunately for you two, that is not the case.  As such, starting immediately, CSI Sidle will be transferred to the day shift so as to avoid any further threat of misconduct."

Grissom's calm voice belied his rising pulse. "Robert, may I suggest that it would be less disruptive to both shifts for me to step down from my supervisory position?"

Their hopes soared as Carvallo considered the proposition.  Shaking his head, he finally replied, "I'm afraid not.  That would do nothing to assuage the unavoidable accusations that you two may become…distracted at a crime scene and miss a key piece of evidence, or conduct an analysis incorrectly."

"That's ridiculous!  If you believe that, you should be firing us -"

"Trust me, if as Ms. Sidle noted herself, your records could not stand up on their own, that's exactly what I would be forced to do."  Then a regretful smile appeared at the irony of the situation.  "Besides, if you stepped down as shift supervisor, your replacement would most likely be CSI Sidle.  Again, no real solution."  He let out a sigh.  "For what it's worth, I am sorry to have to break up such a successful team."

"I don't mean this to sound like a threat Robert, but if Sara is forced to change shifts, I will resign from the lab."  Grissom was remarkably calm as he made this proclamation.  While he was willing to do this for Sara, he did not think it would come to that.  Aside from his brief explosion, Carvallo had given them every indication that he valued both of their contributions to the lab and was loathe to bend to Ecklie's wishes.  Grissom was gambling on the belief that their boss would ultimately back down, particularly if he was between a rock and a hard place.  At least then he could justify his actions, or lack thereof, to the Sheriff.

Exhausted from this encounter, Carvallo put his head in his hand and sighed.  "And exactly what would that accomplish, Gil?"

"Everything.  You'd avoid your publicity scandal and Sara could stay on graveyard."

"This is bullshit!  You do realize that's exactly what Ecklie wants, don't you?"  While she directed her comments at the lab director, Sara did not know who she was more upset with just then, Grissom or Carvallo.  She was beginning to panic at the thought that either she would move to days or Grissom would leave the job he loved for her.  Sara felt the last vestiges of her self control fray and snap.  And with it came a sudden clarity, a recollection of the moment that seemed so long ago now.  She took a few deep breaths, attempting to organize her thoughts as she steadied her nerves.

Calmly, she continued, "Did you know he came to us first?  That he offered to 'forget about' the tape if Grissom and I…cooperated with him?"

"Oh?"  Grissom and Sara could both see the spark of interest in Carvallo's eyes.  "And what sort of cooperation was Ecklie looking for?"

"He wanted Sara to switch to days and me to support him in his bid for your position."  Grissom could see where Sara was going, but was not sure he agreed with her tactics.  What good would it do now to point the finger back at Ecklie?  Was she trying to bring him down with them?   He was afraid that would backfire on them.

"As interesting as that sounds, with no proof, it falls under the guise of the baseless suspicion I mentioned before.  Worse yet, it may look as if you are being vindictive and are attempting to destroy the reputation of the man responsible for turning you in."

Sara looked at Grissom and gave him a slow smile.  Turning to Carvallo, she asked, "May I make a call?"

Confused by the question and the change in her mood, Carvallo agreed and pushed his desk phone toward her.  Both men remained silent as they watched Sara punch a series of numbers, listen, then hit a few more.  She closed her eyes as she concentrated on what she was listening to.  Apparently satisfied, she let out a sigh and opened her eyes, pinning Grissom with a look he thought reflected pure joy.

She held the handset out to Carvallo. "I think you might be interested in this, sir."

Sara's attention stayed on the lab director until she was certain he understood what he was hearing.  The small smile on his face was all the indication she needed.  Feeling Grissom's hand on her elbow, she followed him to the other side of the office.

"What's going on?"  For the life of him, Gil Grissom could not figure out what had just transpired.

"Tell me you love me," she whispered.  She was practically bubbling, and had a devilish gleam in her eyes.

"What?"  Grissom was thoroughly confused now.

"Tell me you love me and that I'm brilliant."

Casting a glance at Carvallo, he whispered back, "I love you and you're brilliant.  And I'd kiss you right here if I believed in pushing our luck.  Now will you please tell me what that was all about?"

"That was about me being an idiot and completely forgetting in the midst of the missing person case that the solution to our problem was in my apartment the entire time.  And luck had nothing to do with it – you should know that, Gil.  Scientists don't believe in luck."

"Sara, what are you talking about?"

"Remember I told you that I saw you as I was heading toward Ecklie's office, and that I was about to call you when he saw me?"

"Yes."

"I put two and two together:  you seemed upset and had recently been with Ecklie, and he seemed awfully anxious to get me into his office before I could use the phone.  I didn't exactly come up with four, but I was suspicious enough to dial my home number and let my digital answering machine record our conversation."

Grissom was dumbstruck.  He stared at Sara, his mouth agape, then looked at Carvallo, who was now busily jotting notes as he kept the phone pressed tightly to his ear.  "That's what he's listening to."  This was not a question.

Sara nodded, the smile never leaving her face.

Their attention was drawn to Carvallo as he called Sara over.  "Make sure you save this before I hang up."

Punching one more number, she asked, "When would you like your own copy?"

"As soon as possible.  I think I'll have a talk with shift supervisor Ecklie in the meantime."

~*~*~

Returning to Carvallo's office little more than two hours later with the recoding in hand, Grissom and Sara were once again escorted into his inner sanctum.

Neither was surprised to see Ecklie there, looking very unhappy.

"Hey Eck, long time no see!"  Sara tried her best to be annoyingly chipper.

Grissom simply nodded and said, "Conrad."

Ecklie did not respond before Director Carvallo invited the recent arrivals to sit.

"I'm going to cut to the chase here, since enough time has already been wasted on this matter.  Shift Supervisor Ecklie has been told of the direct evidence of his blackmail attempt that CSI Sidle presented to me."  Directing his glare at Ecklie, Carvallo asked, "Would you like an opportunity to examine that evidence yourself?"

Ecklie declined.

Sara pulled a disk from her bag and held it up.  "Are you sure, Eck?  It's the least we could do, really, after you so kindly showed us the video tape."  When Ecklie remained silent, Sara placed the sound recording on Carvallo's desk.

"In light of said evidence, I should demote, or perhaps even fire CSI Ecklie.  Combined with the transfer of CSI Sidle to the day shift, however, I feel it would be too much of a disruption, and for minimal effect.  Therefore, there will be no changes in staffing at this time."

Sara let out her sigh as quietly as possible.  Sneaking a glance at Grissom, she noticed his posture become subtly more relaxed.

"Unless CSI Sidle would like to file a complaint against CSI Ecklie," he paused to give Sara the opportunity to say something.  When she shook her head, he continued, "I am ordering everyone to cease and desist.  There will be no leaks of any of this information.  You will all continue to do your jobs while you are here and keep any 'extracurricular activities' away from this lab.  I will not have my lab exposed to any further risk of negative publicity.  Is that understood?"  Carvallo made eye contact with the three CSIs in front of him, earning some form of acknowledgement from each.

Standing up to indicate that the meeting was over, Carvallo added, "If word of this gets out, I will find the source and put a permanent end to it, professionally speaking."

The CSIs stood, Sara and Grissom giving Ecklie a wide berth as he made a bee-line for the door.  They stopped when Carvallo spoke again, "I understand from your conversation with Ecklie that he did not suspect anything prior to stumbling across that video."

"No one does, Robert," Grissom assured him.

"Make sure you keep it that way.  You might not be so clever next time."

Nodding, they left the office.

~*~*~

"Did you see the look on Ecklie's face when we came in?  I don't know who he wanted to kill more, us or Carvallo."  Sara was still giddy with relief at the way the meetings went.

"You can bet Ecklie got quite the earful from Carvallo regarding his behavior while we were gone," Grissom commented as he drove them back to his place.

"I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation."

"I'm sure Ecklie was thinking the same thing about us earlier today.  By the way, I've decided you're not brilliant after all – genius is a much better word to describe what you pulled off."

Giving him her Sara Smile for the accolade, it turned into a wince moments later.  "I still can't believe I didn't think of it sooner."

"A very wise woman once told me that hindsight is twenty-twenty."  He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.  "The important thing is that you thought to record the conversation in the first place.  You can hardly be blamed for forgetting about it when we spent the majority of the next twenty four hours looking for a missing girl.  You put your own problems on the backburner and thought of the victim first.  There's nothing shameful in that, Sara."

"I suppose.  Thanks."  She rubbed her thumb along the side of his.  Now that the rush of relief was out of her system, Sara was able to look back on the morning with a little more solemnity.  "You know, part of me was actually glad that this whole thing was about to be out in the open.  Had it worked out the way we'd hoped, we wouldn't have to sneak around anymore."

Grissom smirked.  "I thought it didn't bother you, as long as I was the reward."

Recalling the conversation they'd had only five days before on their way to the winery, she clarified.  "It doesn't, because the end justifies the means, in my opinion.  If I have to lie to the others in order to maintain this relationship with you, then I'll do it and not feel guilty about it.  But do I want it to have to be that way?  Not really.  Not anymore."

Catching the expression on her face, Grissom felt a brief moment of alarm that Sara was planning to "out" their relationship despite Carvallo's warning.  "Sara, you heard what Carvallo said, didn't you?  We need to continue to keep this quiet, at least for now."

On a sigh, she nearly whined.  "Yeah, I heard him – but I don't like it." She paused for a moment and cocked her head, obviously in thought.  "That's not true, actually.  I think I just resent being told what we can and can't do with our relationship.  If we wanted to tell our friends, we should be able to tell our friends."  Another sigh.  "I guess I just feel like we've been through all this crap for the past few days and we're no better off."

"That's not necessarily accurate, Sara.  Carvallo knows about us, and we have his tacit approval.  And Ecklie is on a leash for the time being.  I prefer to think of it as closing a circle.  One more challenge overcome."

Now it was Sara's jaw that dropped.  That was the third time in the past few minutes Grissom had reminded her of her own words.  "What?  Now you're recording everything I say?"

She let out a small laugh as he responded by kissing the back of her hand.

"Yeah, something like that – you know I look at everything as a learning experience."

"Mmm, true."  She winked at him.  "And as soon as we get home, I think we need to have an experience we'll never forget."

Sara chuckled when Grissom's only response was to press a little harder on the accelerator.

Fin