Disclaimers, etc. in Part 1

Part 3

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The sun was just starting to rise as Grissom and Catherine arrived at their crime scene. They had taken separate vehicles since it was a busy night and Grissom expected to be called away at some point. Deciding not to approach the scene without him, Catherine ambled over to Grissom's vehicle and waited until he started to emerge. Scanning her eyes across the vehicle's interior, something caught her attention.

"Isn't that Sara's cap?" she asked, motioning with her head towards a baseball cap lying on the passenger seat. Sara's cap was distinctive, as she had written 'Sidle' shoddily in white thread across the back, having become fed up with Nick constantly taking the wrong cap from the Break Room whenever she left it lying around.

Grissom turned to where she was looking and then back to her. "Oh, yeah. She was probably the last person to use this vehicle," he surmised. He was thankful for the rising sun giving him an excuse to don his sunglasses, as it hid his eyes, which he knew would betray him to Catherine. Sara had been in the vehicle recently, but not for the reason he had given. She had been in it just prior to start of shift, when Grissom picked her up from her apartment to take her to dinner. Since she was dressed for work to save time, she had been wearing her cap, but had removed it when they left the vehicle to go to the restaurant and hadn't put it back on when they returned. They had been running late, so she quickly jumped from Grissom's lab-provided SUV into her own car when they got back to her apartment, rather than adhering to their usual custom of going inside for a few minutes alone before work.

Catherine looked at him curiously, but bought his excuse and fell into step with him as he walked towards the scene.

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"I think we got everything," announced Catherine as she logged the last piece of evidence and double-checked her blood spatter calculations. Grissom nodded and snapped one last photograph before stepping back to survey the scene once more. "Once we've dropped the evidence into the lab, I'm gonna get something to eat. Do you want to join me?"

"No, I ate already."

"I'm thinking that your usual junk food diet will stop giving off its fat-induced energy boosts in a little while," she teased.

"Actually, I ate out tonight, no junk food" he told her smugly, instantly regretting it as he knew she would press him for details. He was right.

"Really?" she said, her interest obviously piqued. "Date?"

"Ran out of food," he lied.

"You sure you're not hungry?"

"Yes. I'll get Greg started in Trace, you can go eat," he suggested, taking the evidence from her to carry to his own vehicle. Catherine thanked him and walked to her SUV, a pondering look on her face. She stopped at the driver's door and looked back at him.

"You get to take your vehicle home, it's your assigned vehicle, when did Sara drive it?" she asked, though her tone wasn't accusing.

Grissom had already started to get into his vehicle and made sure he didn't flinch at her comment, managing to hide the fact that he'd heard. Instead, he climbed inside and started the engine, driving away and leaving Catherine to her wonderings.

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"This is yours I believe," said Grissom as he tossed Sara's cap to her. She was poring over some evidence in the Layout Room and looked up at the sound of his voice. The cap landed on the chair behind her, accurately aimed by Grissom and she glanced at it in confusion.

"I wondered where I'd left that."

"It was in my Denali. Catherine saw it."

"Oh. What did you tell her?"

"I didn't. I avoided the question."

"That can't be good."

"No," he sighed, moving beside her and casting an eye over the evidence. "She went to get something to eat, but no doubt she's thinking about the slip up I made." He told her about his mistake in mentioning she'd been driving his vehicle and Sara winced.

"Maybe she'll forget about it," she said hopefully, but Grissom's look told her everything she already knew; Catherine wouldn't forget. Even if she didn't mention it, she'd file it away in her mind for later.

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Grissom considered himself fortunate that the next night proved to be extremely busy, with every CSI working solo to get through the caseload. He had spoken to Catherine only briefly, when he handed out assignments, and she hadn't mentioned anything about how Sara's cap got in his vehicle. He and Sara had made a show of ignoring each other at the start of shift, hoping to throw Catherine off the scent, but were unsure if it had worked.

"Good work tonight, everyone," he said genuinely as they re-grouped in the Break Room at the end of shift to discuss where they were with their cases. "Sara, you're off tonight, so bring Nick up to speed on your case and he can make sure it's progressed."

"I don't mind working," she replied.

"I know, but I'm not authorizing the overtime," he told her, looking over the rim of his glasses with an expression that told her his mind would not be changed.

"I can come in anyway," she shrugged.

"No, you can't," he said sternly, prompting the others to shift uncomfortably in their seats.

"Well, I'm working tonight, so I'm gonna go home to Lindsey," said Catherine, rising from her chair. Nick and Warrick both followed suit, with Nick telling Sara he'd meet her in the Layout Room to go over her evidence. That caused Sara to glare at Grissom again.

"Why can't I work tonight? It's my case, I'm happy to work, even without pay. I don't see what the problem is," she said in a tone that clearly showed her annoyance. "Is this because of the cap?" she added as an afterthought, looking at him closely.

"No, of course not. You work too many hours, Sara, you need to take a break. There's nothing in your case that can't wait, Nick will only be progressing the analysis in Trace. Everything will still be there for you tomorrow night." The look in his eyes and quality in his voice was unmistakable; he was worried about her.

"I'm fine, Grissom," she assured, giving him a full smile.

"I know you are," he agreed. "This is purely for my benefit." She furrowed her brow in confusion. "I have tomorrow night off, which means I don't need to worry about tiring myself out tomorrow morning, since I can catch up at night." With a smirk he added, "I need you rested tonight so you're ready my arrival in the morning."

"You're using that to stop me from working?" she asked, her face housing a look that was a cross between annoyance and amusement.

"No, I'm going to clamp down on everyone. Nick has skipped his last few nights off as well, he won't be doing that again for a while. I know I work too many hours, it doesn't mean the rest of you have to do the same. The fact that you'll be rested tomorrow night is just an added bonus," he smiled.

"Alright," she grudgingly agreed, standing up and walking past him. "I'll go see Nick. Are you coming over later?"

"No, I'm gonna be a while, so many cases tonight, so much paperwork," he said with distaste.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow. You'll bring breakfast?"

"You can count on it. Oh, and Sara?" he said, stopping her in her tracks. "You might want to take this with you, wouldn't want to leave it lying around again." She took the proffered cap from his hands, letting her fingers brush against his briefly. While she put the cap onto her head, Grissom took the opportunity to move past her and into the doorway. "If you're going to leave items of clothing in my car, you could at least make them a little more interesting, really give Catherine something to think about," he smirked, winking at her as he left.

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TBC…

Greg is up next, in the final chapter. Will all be revealed?