ROUND ROBIN: CHAPTER TWO

By KrazyKid197

A/N- So, here is chapter 2. Kinda hard to take Stars' story in a direction, without pinning it down too much, but I think I did OK. I think.

Grissom listened, absorbing the information, processing it in his mind, before saying.

"Nick, go back to the hospital, get copies of there surveillance, take it A/V- and get Archive to get some headshots of the couple, we'll see if we can get an ID. Sara, Warrick, do some digging on Greg, just the same as any other disappearance. Catherine, I want you to run me through exactly what happened. Meet me in the break room as soon as you are done."

The other's left to there ordered destinations and Grissom pointed to his office, and guided Catherine in there, sitting down.

"You do realize that there's another possibility, don't you? That he doesn't want to be found."

Catherine lifted her head up, from where it had been resting in her hands. "You don't think that..."

The supervisor held up his hands to stop her, before continuing.

"I didn't say that I believed it, I said it was a possibility. He's a grown man, Catherine, and he does have the right to disappear, however much we may want to admit it, say it's not in his character, etc. But from what you said, he's been a little out of character anyway."

"But still, it just seems wrong. This isn't settling in my gut."

"Then we'll find him, Catherine. But you have to be prepared: we may have to let him go."

- - -

Greg sighed and tentatively fingered the bandage around his upper arm, scratching just under the edge of it. Since the morphine injection, he was unable to feel pain, but it still managed to itch like hell, just beyond where his fingers could reach. He swore under his breath.

Footsteps behind him caused him to turn around and confront the owner.

"How's the injury?"

"You had your boyfriend shoot me. How do you think I feel? I should just go and leave you two standing."

"Don't give me empty threats Greg." The woman came up beside Greg and glared at him. "I know you won't leave, you know it, so there's really no point."

Greg matched her glare. "You don't know that. You don't know what's going on inside my head."

"On the contrary, my little friend, I do know that you won't leave, because I have...let's just say...leverage."

The young woman, who was maybe in her late twenties, pulled out an envelope and brandished it in front of him. Greg's face paled as he realized what it was, but his jaw remained clamped shut, to keep in whatever sharp retort he had been about to come up with. She smiled and pushed a lock of dark brown hair behind her ear.

"That's better. So you do remember then. Don't act all holier than thou to me, Greg, because I know your darkest secrets."

"So what exactly are we doing?"

She grinned at him, an evil glint in her eye. "It's a surprise, takes all the fun out of it if I tell you now."

The pair was approached by a man, also in his late twenties, who had a gun tucked into the hem of his jeans. He wrapped his arm around the woman's waist and the two kissed. Greg pretended to gag.

"Can you two get a room?"

The couple glared at him, and the man's hand moved closer to the gun, causing Greg to take a step backwards.

"Come on, we need to get going."

"After you, Greg. Unless, you want to go home?"

He warily eyed the package, before shaking his head.

"Good boy."

She laughed. Boy, did he hate her right now. But he still followed the pair to the car and sat in the back, fingers straying to the bandages again, moving away the sling to scratch.

- - -

The nightshift CSI team were sat in the conference room. Grissom started off.

"Nick, did you get them?"

The CSI pulled out the two headshots of the unidentified couple from the hospital. "These were the best Archie could get, they're not brilliant, but..."

He was right; the pictures were grainy, and a little unclear, but that was all they had. Surveillance didn't normally make for good footage. They were designed to be easy to store and used for quick glances.

"Does Brass have a copy?"

"He does, and they're being circulated."

"Good. Warrick, Sara, did you get anything?"

The two CSIs exchanged a look before Sara spoke up. "Not really, except that a record is missing. We think it was a newspaper article, but as we don't know the date or paper, it's a dead end."

"Anything else?"

"Not really boss. All looks normal."

"So now what?"

"Now we wait."

Catherine looked outraged. "Grissom, we can't just hang around and do nothing, he could be hurt, or - - "

Grissom held up his hand, and the protestor silenced. "This case can't be special, or we will never find him. This is what we'd do for any other potential victim, so it's what we do for Greg. You understand?"

He received reluctant affirmations from each member of the team.

"Good."

Next Up: Pointeboots