The Tahoe pulled into the Crime Lab's parking lot. Nick put the truck in park and turned off the ignition but then just sat back in his seat and stared at the building. His face remained expressionless but his eyes gave away the mix of emotions he was feeling. Sara reached over and lightly touched his hair at his temple. He jerked slightly and looked over at her and she caressed his face gently.

"Everything's going to be okay," she said leaning over the console between them to kiss his cheek. "You'll see, I promise."

"You know," he said softly, holding her wrist and rubbing his face against her palm before kissing it. "When you say it, I can actually start to believe that."

She smiled and pressed her lips against his firmly, letting the tender kiss linger.

"Thank you," he whispered, resting her forehead on hers.

They stepped out of the truck and walked to the building, fingers entwined together. Reaching the door, Nick caught her eye and gave her hand a gentle assuring squeeze before letting it slide from his. He pulled the door open and held it for her.

"Here we go," he muttered and they entered the crime-lab.

The cool conditioned air surrounded them, a sharp contrast to the air outside that was already beginning to feel hot and dry in the early morning Nevada sun. Nick and Sara wound through the hallways making their way to the break-room.

"Hey guys," Sara greeted their co-workers, taking in their rumpled clothes and tired faces. True to their word they had been working the case non- stop.

"Nick," Catherine stood up from the table and went over to him. "Honey, how are you?"

"I'm alright Cath," he reassured her with a small smile this time returning her comforting hug. "Thanks."

Sara observed this while she poured coffee for her and Nick. Oh, cool it, she scolded herself, it's just Catherine. She noticed Warrick watching her curiously as she watched the other two embrace and quickly busied herself with the sugar.

"Did you manage to get some sleep?" Grissom asked, removing his glasses and folding his hands neatly on the table in front of him.

Nick willed himself not to blush and tried not to look at Sara when she dropped a spoon that clattered loudly on the linoleum counter top.

"Uh, yeah," he cleared his throat. "Some." He went over to the couch and sat down.

"Good," Grissom said. "Well you guys have good timing. We were all just about to go over our findings, see what we can put together so far. We're just waiting on Greg now. Then Brass wants us to go with him to your brother-in-law's hotel room."

Nick nodded and looked up at Sara as she came over to sit beside him. Catherine keenly observed as Nick smiled at Sara, the first genuine smile she'd seen on him since yesterday, as she handed him his coffee, their fingers touching just a few seconds longer than necessary. Sara returned his smile and sat a bit closer than usual, letting her leg rest against his and their eyes locked together momentarily. Something unspoken was definitely going on between them.

Grissom was of course totally oblivious to all of this but Warrick caught Catherine's eye and she knew he sensed something too. She was about to comment on it when Greg made his appearance looking even more disheveled than usual.

"If you guys drank all my Blue Hawaiian coffee you each owe me forty dollars so I can buy more," the lab-tech grumbled and shuffled his way to the coffee maker.

"Morning Greggo," Nick said, watching Greg pour the remaining coffee into his giant thermo mug making sure he got every last drop.

"Nick, hey," Greg said, surprised to notice his friend there. Nick seemed to be in better spirits than he had been the last time they had spoken and Greg sincerely hoped this to be the case. "How are you doing?"

Nick nodded in response, offering a small smile and taking a sip of his drink. "I'll be better when we nail this guy. What have you guys got?"

"Alright, I'll start," Grissom said, replacing his glasses and opening his file. "We now know for certain that she has been dead going on forty-eight hours. We also know she was strangled and that the attacker used his gloved hands to do it."

Nick shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Sara looked over at him concerned, fighting the impulse to take his hand.

"You okay?" she asked quietly. He nodded briefly and waited for the others to continue.

"Well, I found a couple more of those errant blonde hairs on her sweater," Catherine said. "Along with a couple fibers that could be vehicle upholstery, I'm still working on getting a positive match on them. There was also what appear to be grayish feline hairs."

"She has a couple cats at home," Nick clarified. "A Siamese and a tabby I believe."

"I've identified our shoe print," Warrick piped up. He gave Nick a grin. "It's our favorite make."

"Converse All-Stars," Nick guessed with a smirk and he quirked an eyebrow. "Size eleven?"

"Close, twelve."

"Okay, okay my turn," Greg said perking up now that he had his caffeine fix, and rubbing his hands together excitedly. "Skin samples and the DNA from the skin tags from the hair found indicated our suspect is a Caucasian male, however he is not a natural blonde. The roots are a very dark brown and the rest of the hair was stripped of its color, most likely with peroxide. Also, Sara found a cigarette butt at the scene. I analyzed it and the DNA I found matches the DNA from under her fingernails. Our suspect smokes Humps."

At Grissom's questioning look Warrick clarified. "Camels."

"Okay so we're looking for a dark haired white guy with size twelve feet who smokes Camels and bleaches his hair," Sara said. "Well that really narrows it down." She didn't mean to sound so pessimistic but had really been hoping that for Nick's sake they would be able to wrap this up quickly.

"We've caught guys with less Sar," Nick said and she was glad and relived to see that his optimism hadn't deserted him. "At least it's a start." He nodded to himself as though he were slowly becoming convinced of what he was saying. "We'll get him."

"'Course we will," Warrick said, jumping at the chance to boost everyone's confidence. "We're not the number two lab in the country for nuthin," he added with a rare grin.

"That's right," Catherine agreed smiling. "We're damn good!"

The room shared a quiet laugh and some of their tension dissipated. Energy renewed, they stood filed out to continue working on the case. In the hallway Catherine glanced around to ensure no one would hear her.

"You saw that too didn't you?" she whispered leaning closer to Warrick, referring to Nick and Sara.

"You bet I did," he replied with a chuckle.

"Nick, I'm going to go and call Brass and let him know we're coming," Grissom said from the doorway of the break-room. "Then I'll meet you at the car. Sara stick around and help out Catherine and Warrick."

"I'll be right there Griss," Nick said and watched as his boss disappeared around the corner. He and Sara faced each other.

"Good luck," Sara said looking up at him. Once again she found herself fighting the urge to touch him.

"Thanks, you too," he said with a kind smile. His gaze traveled to her lips and back up to her eyes, he wanted to kiss her so badly. "I can at least hug you right?"

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Always," she whispered in his ear.

Nick held her tightly letting out a deep sigh. He finally released her and gave her a wink before heading out to the parking lot.