Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to PeTiTeCaT, another one of my faithful readers who I can always count on for support of my fics.  Thank you so much!

Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed the last two chapters: CSIaddict, LynnM, Sprinkles143, Lil'River, MissyJane, Megs23, cRaZyPiXiE, Dolly, Stokes-CSI3, LyraAndCassiopia, spikes-storm, PrettyPerfect, PeTiTeCaT, and Nepeace

And to Megan: Actually, I went to school with a girl named Corinne, and I just thought it was a nice name. lol

Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out.  I can't guarantee that I'll get the rest of the chapters out quicker, but I can guarantee that I'll try.  I just hope you'll stick with me and see this story through.  It's all I ask. ;-)

See chapter one for disclaimer.

~*~*~*~

The velvety darkness hung over Las Vegas like a blanket, wrapping around the houses in the quiet, residential community where Warrick slowed the dark blue Tahoe to a stop.  The street was empty, save the Tahoe and the cruiser parked on the other side of the road, and the only sound was that of the soft crunching pebbles as they pelted against the underside of the truck.  The community was far enough away from the Strip that the blaringly garish lights didn't disturb the pleasant feel of the neighborhood, yet close enough that the residents were deprived the twinkling night stars.  To Warrick, who had lived in the city his whole life, it was a fair trade-off.

He opened the door and hopped out, silver field kit in hand.  Catherine, seated next to him on the passenger side, followed suit.  As they exited the vehicle, Detective O'Riley stepped out of the police car where he had evidently been waiting for the investigators to arrive, and took a gulp from the steaming Starbucks cup he held in one hand.

"'Bout time you guys got here," he said, taking another gulp from the cup before shifting it so he held it around the rim.

Catherine shrugged her shoulders.  "We were on another case."

O'Riley said nothing but led the two CSI's toward the house and under the yellow police tape strung around the perimeter.  "Vic's in the back bedroom," he informed them when they reached the door, letting the CSI's take the lead as he straggled behind.

They reached the bedroom and found a heavyset blond woman slumped in a computer chair, blood trickling down her face and matting her hair.  Her denim blue eyes stared blankly at the computer monitor - which by now was in screen-saver mode - as the words 'Dawn Loves Richie' bouncing lazily across the black screen, and her hand was resting lightly on the mouse pad.

"Name's Angelica Roselli," O'Riley announced from the doorway, "Age 39."

Catherine nodded and opened her field kit, pulling out a few swabs.  She carefully pulled down the plastic covering and took a sample of blood from the victim's head, then labeled it and placed it in the kit.  She repeated the steps and took samples from various streaks of blood on the woman's body, as well as the chair and surrounding carpet, hoping, though knowing it wasn't likely, that there was more than just the dead woman's blood there.

Meanwhile, Warrick searched for the bullet casing.  He smiled when he found it near the inside edge of one of the chair wheels, and bagged and labeled it.  When he finished, he took a look at the body, careful not to disturb any evidence.

"Single shot, through and through," he commented, moving in and getting a closer look at the bullet hole in their victim's head.  "Which means the bullet's gotta be here somewhere."

He rose and quickly glanced around the room, almost instantly seeing it in the wall behind the computer.  He moved closer to it and swore under his breath when he saw how tightly it was lodged in the wall.

"What's the matter?" Catherine asked, looking up from the hair she was depositing in a baggie.

"The damn bullet's so far into the wall," he complained.  "There's no way I'm gonna be able to get it out without compromising the evidence."

Catherine couldn't help but smile at her co-worker's frustration.  "Then you know what you gotta do," she said, shooting him a knowing look before picking up a black marker to label the baggie in her hand.

"C'mon, Cath," Warrick practically whined.  "I can't just take a chunk out of the wall."

Catherine's lips twitched into a smirk as she popped the cap back on her marker.  "Nicky hadda bring a tree back to the lab; you can handle a little plaster."

Warrick swore again and Catherine bit her lip to keep from laughing at the situation.  She rose from her crouched position on the floor and stretched her back, wincing when she heard it crack.  "I'm getting old," she murmured to herself, and Warrick turned from where he was marking the wall to look at her.

"You?" he exclaimed, his face scrunching up and his expression clearly saying 'yeah right'.  "You're gorgeous, Cath.  You'll never get old."

Catherine smiled in gratitude for her friend's reassuring words, but she shook her head.  "Nah.  I feel like an old lady these days.  Lindsey's growing up too damn quick.  She's twelve now, you know that?"

Warrick opened his eyes wide and whistled under his breath.  "Then I must be getting old, too," he commented as he returned to his work.  "Seems like yesterday she was jumping into my arms and drawing those pictures for the fridge in the break room."

Catherine nodded in agreement as she lifted prints from around the computer.  "The only person's arms she's interested in jumping into these days are Jeremy Luka's."

"Who?"

"A boy in her class," Catherine explained.  "She's got a huge crush on him."

Warrick scoffed as he made an incision in the wall.  "Lindsey's too young to have a crush."

"She's twelve," Catherine said.  "Be thankful it's only a crush; I had my first kiss when I was her age."

Warrick shook his head, shying away from the thought of the lab's little princess kissing a boy. 

Catherine smiled at her friend's obvious discomfort and turned back to her work.  She lifted Angelica Roselli's hand from the mouse and carefully dusted it for prints.  When she peeled the sticky sheet and placed it down to lift the print, the mouse moved and the floating 'Dawn Loves Richie" disappeared.

She quickly labeled the print and put it in her kit, then studied the computer screen.  The woman had obviously been in the middle of checking her email when she was killed, because one message was open, halfway scrolled down.  Catherine scrolled back up to the beginning and added the sender's address to her memory bank: marguerite@dawnsfiction.net.  She then began to read aloud the body of the letter.

"Hey Angie!  Did you watch today's episode?  Wait a second, what am I saying?  Of course you watched it!!  I guess I'm just asking what you thought. lol Wasn't it great?  I loved Dawn's line at the end.  You know, where she told Tom she couldn't be with him anymore.  That means she can go back to Richie!! Gosh, I'm just so excited!  I already have a post-ep in the works…Tom will get in a jealous rage and kidnap her, and then Richie can come to her rescue and they'll get married and have lots of babies!  Oh, wouldn't it be great if they did that on the show? lol  We can only dream…  But I definitely think they'll get back together now. 

And can you believe Reese has a twin?!?!?!

Marg"

"What the hell was that?" Warrick asked, abandoning his work at removing a chunk of the wall to read the email over Catherine's shoulders.

"I have no idea," she replied.  "I guess they were both fans of a show."  She pulled out the keyboard, which had already been dusted, and typed 'dawnsfiction.net' in the address bar.  A website with a lavender background and a scrolling marquee popped up.  The heading spelled out 'By Dawn's Light' in flowing, purple cursive, and the background depicted a sunrise peaking over the horizon.  The second heading read 'Fan Fiction, Fan Art, and Discussion Forums for fans of the Soap Opera', and the words "We'll Meet Again', now updated!!' scrolled across the marquee.

"What the hell?" Catherine asked as she scrolled up and down the page.

"It's a soap opera," Warrick explained.  "It chronicles the life of Dawn Matthews and her boss/lover, Richard Wells.  He's a lawyer and she's his secretary, and they have this steamy, on-again-off-again romance.  Right now, though, she's dating his stepbrother, Tom.  But I guess today they broke it off."

"And who's Reese?"

"Reese is Dawn's best friend.  She's an intern at Richard's law firm," Warrick answered.

A wide-eyed Catherine shook her head.  "I'm not gonna even ask how you know all this stuff."

Warrick laughed as he pulled out his cell phone.  "Sara and I had a case about two weeks ago with a girl who was heavily into this show.  Marissa Cramer.  We had to do a lot of research," he clarified.  "She had all these disks with collages and episode transcripts and stories about the characters that she wrote herself.  I think that's what fan fiction is."

Catherine nodded and let Warrick continue.

"There wasn't much to go on, so the case was left unsolved," he finished.

"And you think there's a link between this case and that one?" Catherine asked.

Warrick shrugged his shoulders.  "Could be.  Or it could just be a coincidence.  Completely different MO's.  Marissa Cramer was tall, thin, dark-haired, and stabbed through the heart.  Angelica's short, heavy, blonde, and shot through the head.  But I don't know.  I've just got this…"

"Gut feeling?" Catherine prodded.

Warrick nodded and indicated the cell phone at his ear.  "That's why I'm calling Sara."

~*~*~*~

Most of the house lights were off, save two lamps burning brightly in the family room where Nick was stretched out lazily on the couch, one hand resting lightly behind his head.  A large bowl of popcorn balanced on top of his flat stomach and a tall glass of soda was sitting on the coffee table next to him.  The volume of the television was low as Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts flashed across the screen.  Nick reached for the soda as the phone rang, and he took a gulp from the glass as he picked up the cordless phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Warrick."

Nick reached for the remote sitting next to him and quickly hit the pause button.  "Hey, man," he greeted.  "What's up?"

"Nothing much.  You busy?" Warrick asked on the other end of the line.

"Nope," Nick replied.  "Just watching a movie."

"Which one?"

"Conspiracy Theory," Nick answered.

"Good movie," Warrick commented.  After a pause, he said, "Is Sara there with you?"

Nick shook his head and looked up at the stairs, although he knew his friend couldn't see him.  "No, she's sleeping."

Even through the phone line, Nick could hear Warrick's shock.  "Sleeping?" he asked incredulously.  "We talking about the same Sara Sidle here?"

Nick's face broke into a grin and he laughed a bit.  "First of all, it's Stokes.  You should know that by now," he corrected, although his tone was teasing.  "Second of all, she's pregnant.  Raging hormones and all that jazz.  I'm glad she's been sleeping more.  It's better for her and the baby."

Warrick grimaced at the other end of the line.  "Then you're gonna hate me."

"Why?"

"We need her to come into work.  Cath and I are working a case, and I think there's a link to that case Sara and I worked a couple weeks ago," Warrick explained.

Nick ran a hand across his face and through his short cropped hair.  "You sure you need her?  Couldn't you just handle it till next shift?"

"Both vics were fans of this soap opera, 'By Dawn's Light'," Warrick explained.  "Our first vic had all these disks with information about the show.  Sara's the one who went through it all.  I only know what she told me."

Nick let out an exaggerated sigh and placed the popcorn bowl on the coffee table.  "Alright, fine.  She'll be there in an hour."

"An hour?" Warrick exclaimed.  "Why so long?"

"You think I'm gonna wake up a pregnant woman who really needs her rest and then tell her she has to rush to get to work on top of it?" Nick demanded.  "She'd bite my head off."

"Point taken," Warrick agreed.  "Tell Sara I'll see her at the lab."

Nick hung up the phone and looked up at the stairs, completely dreading the task ahead.

~*~*~*~

Sara walked briskly through the halls of the Las Vegas Crime Lab, searching for Warrick and Catherine.  She found them in one of the computer labs, both hunched over monitors.

"So what was so important that you had to drag me out of bed on my night off?" she questioned as she made her presence known.  Both colleagues turned and offered half smiles.

"Sorry, Sar," Warrick apologized as he pulled a wheeling chair from the wall and positioned it next to his computer.  He motioned for her to sit, and she gladly took the opportunity to collapse into the cushioned seat.

"So what's up?" she asked, leaning over her friend to glance at the computer screen.

"Remember that Marissa Cramer case from a few weeks ago?" Warrick asked.  "The one that went unsolved?"

Sara nodded as the details of the case came back to her.  "Single stab through the heart.  Knife was wiped and there were no epithelials or foreign substances.  And the only blood was the vic's.  What about it?"

"Remember all those disks we collected from the scene?"

Sara nodded again.  "That stuff from the soap opera, 'By Dawn's Light'.  But I thought we'd decided it was irrelevant to the case?"

"That's why we called you in," Catherine said, speaking up for the first time since Sara had entered the room.  "We think there may be a link between that case and the one we're working now."

"Why?"

"Angelica Roselli, our vic, was found slumped over her computer, shot once through the head.  She was a pretty big fan of that soap opera."

Sara still didn't seem convinced.  "It could just be a coincidence."

"It could," Warrick agreed.  "But I don't think so."  He reached over and grabbed a paper from a manila folder next to the computer.  "These are the ratings for the show."

He handed the paper to Sara, who quickly skimmed it.  "Ratings are low.  Really low," she commented.

"That's why I don't think it's a coincidence," Warrick said.  "It's not that popular, and very low-budget.  The odds of two die-hard fans in Vegas being murdered within weeks of each other aren't high."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"See if you can find a connection between the two victims.  Look at email correspondences, websites they frequented, anything that could link them together," Catherine said.

"And you two will be…?" she asked, letting her sentence trail.

"Processing the evidence," Warrick answered.

Sara nodded and clacked her tongue.  "Gotcha."

Warrick and Catherine rose from their chairs and left the computer lab, leaving Sara alone.  She let out a long sigh and rubbed her temple. 

"So much for my night off."

~*~*~*~

The early rays of morning peeked through the blinds in Lexi's bedroom where she lay asleep under a sea of blankets, Nala clutched tightly to her chest.

The door creaked open as Simba walked into the room, sniffing the toys and furniture as he made his way to the bed.  He laid his head on the mattress and stuck his nose under Lexi's arm, urging her to wake up.

Lexi stirred when she felt his cold, wet nose rub against her skin, and she giggled as she opened her eyes.  "Hey Simba," she greeted, rubbing the black and tan mutt's head as he wagged his tail happily.

Lexi flung her legs over the side of the bed and hopped off, leaving her rag doll on the pillow.  "C'mon, Simba," she said, "Let's see if anyone else is up yet."

She walked into the kitchen, the dog trailing happily behind her, and found Corinne seated at the kitchen table, teacup in hand and newspaper spread out in front of her.

"Morning, Grandma," she said, walking towards the older woman and wrapping her in a hug.

"Morning, kiddo," Corinne replied, kissing her granddaughter's forehead.  "Sleep good?"

Lexi nodded.  "Yup.  What's for breakfast?"

"Your dad bought crumb cake.  Want some?" she asked.

"Yes, please."

Corinne rose from her seat and walked toward the counter.  She grabbed a knife from the drawer and carefully cut a piece of the cake.  She placed it on a paper plate and poured a tall glass of orange juice for the little girl.

She returned to the table and placed the plate and glass, as well as a fork, in front of Lexi, who was sitting in her usual spot.

"Thanks, Grandma," she said, taking a large gulp from the glass and a forkful of crumb cake.  "Where're Mom and Daddy?"

"Sara had to go into work last night, and your dad's in the shower," Corinne explained.

"What time did Mom have to go to work?" Lexi asked as she swallowed another forkful of cake.

"I'm not sure," Corinne answered truthfully.  "But it must have been late.  I was sleeping."

Lexi seemed satisfied with her grandmother's answer as she took a gulp of juice.  "Are we doing anything today?" she asked.

"Well," Corinne began, "Your parents are meeting with someone who may replace Rosa, so I thought you and I could go shopping so we're not in their hair.  I told your father I'm sure you wouldn't mind getting some new things.  What do you think?" she asked with a wink.

The little girl's grin was answer enough.

~*~*~*~

Sara rubbed her tired eyes as she opened the umpteenth 'By Dawn's Light' website that night.  The work assigned to her had quickly gone from being an easy task to a mundane chore, and her frustration at not finding anything was quickly mounting.

She clicked on a link labeled 'Filks and Song Fics' and scrolled down, getting angrier with Warrick and Catherine with each passing title.  Suddenly something caught her eye, and she quickly scrolled back up, smiling in triumph when she confirmed what she had seen.  The summary under the title read:

'A D/R filk to the tune of Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain', written by your favorite dynamic duo, Angie and Marissa!!'

Sara pulled her cell phone off the clip on her belt loop and dialed a familiar number.

"Warrick?  I think I got something."

~*~*~*~

A/N~ I know I said that they would meet Jessica McCormack in this chapter, but it just got to be too long, so I decided to keep it for the next chapter.  Drop me a line and let me know what you think!

~Emily