They followed the yellow brick road that seemed to go on and on forever, walking tirelessly over the twists and turns.
Looking up into the cloudless sky, Nick suddenly noticed a blur on the horizon. "Hey guys, what's that up there?"
Everyone followed his eyes to see a slowly approaching object that seemed to be getting bigger as it closed on them.
"Is it a bird?" Warrick asked, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand.
As it came nearer, Greg gasped with a smile. "Hey, isn't that Peters from dayshift?"
Squinting her eyes, Sara stood up taller to try and get a better look. "Oh yeah, but why is he flying?"
"Hey, Peters," Greg yelled waving his hands frantically.
Peters flew down low to hover above them for a few moments before zoning in on Sara to take hold of her shoulders and lift her off of the ground.
"Grissom," she yelled as he quickly dropped his kit while lunging forward to wrap his arms around her legs.
"Let her go Peters, I swear Ecklie's gonna hear about this."
"Oh but Gil," a smarmy voice spoke from behind them, "I already know about it."
Spinning around, Grissom momentarily released Sara's legs to confront Ecklie. "You've gone too far this time Ecklie. Let her go."
"What, and miss this little confrontation?" Ecklie grinned.
"If only I had a pot of coffee," Grissom growled, his eyes looking around the ground for one to appear. As if by magic a coffee pot materialized in Grissom's hands and he looked down at it in shock for a few moments before throwing it in his Ecklie's direction.
The glass melted away to pour cooling coffee all over Ecklie's head. "Well gee, thanks," he groaned, his hands trying to wipe the stains off of his suit. "This was newly made especially for this story, shi…" His voice died away and he looked at the night shift in shock.
Peters let Sara go and she fell onto Grissom, sending them both into a heap on the floor.
"Look at Ecklie he's turning pale, I really wanted to see him wail. Just because you ruined his suit, he's really standing rather mute." Catherine looked up at Warrick and then over to Greg before looking back to Ecklie's still form.
"Help…" he whined, his hands patting his balding head. "I'm meeeeeeelting…"
"Oh look he is too," Greg noted, watching him as he slowly started to smoke. "Shouldn't we do something?"
"Exactly what show have you been on bud?" Nick asked quietly. "Don't you know by now that no one really likes Ecklie?"
"You mean he's someone who I haven't been pared with?" Greg asked hopefully.
"Don't take it bad bro," Nick grinned, "I'm sure there's someone out there who has written a good pairing for you."
"Yeah there has," Greg moaned glumly, "and it's with you!"
Nick moved swiftly away, "Well I've got Sara to fall back on so I'm okay."
"Seems she's already fallen for Grissom," Warrick grinned, pointing to the pair who still hadn't risen from the ground, their eyes locked in an intensive intense gaze.
Ecklie watched them all stunned, and then put his hands on his hips indignantly. "Excuse me, this is my death scene. Have a little consideration!"
"Oh…" Nick and Greg lifted their eyes to Ecklie's smoldering form. Warrick slipped his arm around Catherine while she checked her nails. Grissom pushed Sara up so that he could get up off the floor to pull her up with him. Hank wailed miserably when Heather started to stroke his straw leg, his begging going unheard.
Taking his hands off of his hips, Ecklie straightened up and shook his shoulders. "Okay, now where was I?"
"You were melting, boss," Peters whispered as he took a quick step closer only to retreat again.
"Oh yeah," Ecklie nodded, drawing in a deep breath. "Okay I haven't rehearsed this so everyone please be gentle," he told them, "it's my first time."
"Really?" Sara reassured him, nodding enthusiastically. " Get outta here, you're kidding us aren't you?"
"No, honest, my very first time," he blushed.
"You're a natural." She beamed, " Just take a deep breath before you start your death scene again."
"You sure?" he asked dubiously. "Not too dramatic?"
"No…no," Sara reassured, "Take it from the 'I'm Meeeelting part' okay?"
"I must say you're being very good about all of this," he smiled. "After I tried to kidnap you and all."
"Hey, no hard feelings there Conrad," she told him. "Now if you really wouldn't mind dying now, we have to rescue some authors."
"Oh… yes of course," he apologized. "Okay, I'm ready." Taking a deep breath, he started to melt, his wail starting slowly to die down as he sank to the ground sputtering his last breath.
Standing back, the night shift applauded, and Ecklie raised his head in a single bow of encore before finally melting into a puddle on the floor.
"Look," Nick yelled, pointing into the distance. "The castle."
All eyes turned to where he was pointing and finally a breath of relief cascaded around the small group. Picking up his kit, Grissom took his place by Sara's side and started to walk again. The others followed behind, knowing that this little adventure was soon to be over.
***
As they walked, Nick surveyed the fields surrounding them. "Sara?"
Pulling away from Grissom's side, Sara walked over to her friend and smiled. "Yeah?"
"I've decided that you can have the promotion!"
Sara's mouth dropped open suddenly as she reached out to Nick to pull him to a standstill. "Excuse me? I can have the promotion?"
Nick glanced up at her quickly and gulped visibly. "Uh…I meant to say…I…""Why?"
"Uh…"
"Why do you want me to have the promotion? What's wrong with it?" Pulling on his arm, Sara took Nick to the opposite side of the yellow brick road and looked him in the eye. "Okay, spill. Is there something you're not telling me?"
Shaking his head quickly, Nick's eyes drifted over towards the huge castle that loomed in the distance. "No, nothing wrong, I just realized whose job I want."
Sara sighed visibly and linked her arm through his, "Grissom's?"
"Nope," he grinned.
"Hmm…" she mused, smiling as she thought. "Bobby's?"
"Nope."
"Ecklie's?"
"Ewww NO!"
"Um…" she pulled on his arm to start him walking again. "Brass?"
"What and wear a dress? No thanks…"
"Well it is only for this story, so technically you won't have to wear a dress," looking up into his eyes she winked. "Unless you want to!"
"SARA!"
"Sorry," she grinned, "okay, let's see…Greg's, Hodges…oo…oo…Lady Heather's personal assistant?"
"Hey don't even joke about that," Nick huffed. "Besides, looks like your ex has already been employed."
Their eyes looked over to where Lady Heather was caressing Hanks broken leg, her hands every so often pulling out a strand of straw to throw onto the floor.
"We've established he was never really my boyfriend, right?" Sara asked worriedly, wondering how on earth she had even considered dating a brainless man.
"Oh yeah," Nick winked. "A bit embarrassing though don't you think?"
"What, that I almost dated a man with no brain?"
"No, that your ex boyfriend turned out to be a scarecrow!"
Sara's eyes flew to Nick's and she slapped him on his arm playfully before returning to their guessing game.
"Okay give me a hint," she beamed.
"I want a total new change," he hinted.
"Oh God Nick…" she gasped, pulling him to a halt beside her again. "You can't go to CSI Miami…that would be just so wrong!"
"Miami? Sar, I'm not going to Miami."
"You sure?" she asked cautiously. "You mean you're not gonna have your hands permanently attached to your hips and call yourself Horatio?"
"Horatio…who's Horatio?"
"Oh it doesn't matter," she told him with the wave of her hand. "Just tell me!"
"I wanna be the director," he told her in a whisper.
"The director?" she asked, her voice booming until he hurriedly covered her mouth with his hand.
"Shhh," he hissed. "What's so wrong with wanting to be director?"
"Uh…let me think…" Shaking her head she nudged him lightly. "Okay I give up."
"So soon," he grinned.
"You're just too smart there, Nick," she winked. "So come on, give."
"I want a castle too."
Sara's shock quickly melted into a warm smile as she pulled him back towards the others. "That's cool."
"I know!"
Grissom turned to Sara as she slowly came back up to walk beside him. "Everything okay?" he asked worriedly.
"Yep," she beamed.
"We're nearing the castle pretty quickly and I haven't seen a single bug." With a heavy sigh, Grissom looked around at the dusty roadside and shook his head.
"What?"
"What good's an entomologist when he hasn't any bugs?" He asked miserably.
"Great I'd say," she winked, causing a slow blush to creep up his cheeks.
"So tell me about that beetle again," she whispered, linking her arm through his as she leaned into him.
"Which one…there's so many different…"
"The Cockchafer," she grinned.
Once again, Grissom's cheeks flushed pink as he fought to banish the images that she had conjured up in his mind. "Uh…"
"Oh come on Grissom," she purred softly. "You know you're gonna tell me."
"Okay," he croaked, forcing himself to keep focused. "Well, it's like this…the Cockchafer…"
TBC