Week Four

Friday / Saturday

Rai was on the floor, her back against the loveseat, with her head propped up in her left hand, elbow resting on the edge of the coffee table. Her right hand held a pencil and was working furiously. Nick was lying on the loveseat behind her, his knees on the armrest, feet dangling over the edge. Every few minutes he would glance from the TV over her shoulder to the image that was emerging from her pencil tip. He finally gave up the battle and pointed the remote at the TV, shutting it off.

"Why three?" He asked quietly, so as to not startle her.

She didn't stop, her pencil kept moving. "Three what?"

"Three is dominate in the drawing." He sat up and swung one leg over her head and scooted on the cushions so he was right behind her. "Look, three groups of three stars each." He pointed as he went on. "Three rabbits, three flowers." He bent down, his head next to hers, "Why three?"

"Three is a magical number in kids books."

"It is?"

"Yeah. Think about it." She put her pencil down and shifted so her back was against his knee.

"Three bears, three blind mice, three fairies in Sleeping Beauty. Cinderella has three evil stepsisters, well, ok, one was a stepmother, but there were three of them altogether; you see my point." She pressed her lips together, trying to hide a smile, she was making it up as she went, and he could tell.

"Ah" he said playing along, "but there were seven dwarfs."

"Name them" she challenged.

He counted off on his fingers. "Dopey... Doc...Grumpy..." she gave him a moment to think about it.

"Um hmm. Three!" She teased triumphantly, no longer trying to hide the smile.

"Know what else comes in three's?" He leaned in and kissed her.

Later, in the early evening, they were in her bed, her head rested on his chest, his arm draped around her shoulders. They were laughing at the story Rai had just finished telling him. "So that's why Sara is grossed out by saliva." Nick said with a last chuckle.

Rai pushed up with her hands, moving her head to look at him. Through final giggles, she said: "You can not let her know I told you. She'd kill me!" The mental picture Rai had just described of a fourteen-year-old Sara and saliva popped back into Nicks head, and he began to laugh again. From the hallway, Monte began to bark, excited by the commotion. Nick's cell phone began to ring, adding to the noise of the laughter and barking.

"Aw damn it." He pulled his arm out from around her and she moved away, letting him up. "Where're my pants?" He said as he swung his feet onto the floor. He found them before she had a chance to answer. Confronted with his nakedness, Rai playfully covered her eyes, and then moved two fingers apart, giving her peeking room. Nick saw her and laughed as he glanced at the caller id, "Grissom" he told her as he flipped it open. "Stokes" he answered and sat back down on the edge of the bed.

"I need you," Grissom didn't bother with a hello. "Got a DB at the Sphere. Sara's already there."

"Alright. I'm on it." He clicked the phone shut and let out a frustrated groan. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he glanced over his shoulder to where she lay behind him, her hair a mass of mayhem around her head.

"Gotta go?" She asked.

Catherine tucked her hair behind her ear and left her hand there, holding back the rest of her hair as she bent and drank from the water fountain.

"Catherine." Gils voice rang out, bouncing off the walls and floor of the unusually quiet hall.

Removing her thumb from the fountain push button, she stood, startled more by the tone of his voice than the volume of it. Her brow knitted, "What is it?"

Grissom handed her the sheet of paper in his hands. He watched her face as she read, his eyes narrowing. "Gil..." she said and stopped, not knowing what more to say.

"She's asked for you." Catherine's face went from shock to confusion. "I'm sending Greg and Warrick to her apartment, it's our primary."

"Where's Nick?"

"On a DB at the Sphere, Sara's with him."

"How do we..." Catherine kept finding herself at a loss for words.

Gil put his hand on her elbow, steadying her. "Go talk to Rai. When you're ready for Nick and Sara to know, call my cell." He took a breath "I'll tell them."