Disclaimer: insert hysterical laugh here

A/N: Bigger delay, yah? Sorry. I've been totally too damn lazy to write anything lately. All I've been doing is sending emails (for I am a pathological email checker oO) like crazy and ... well, flirting with my neighbor :) It's worth it, right? Right. Anyway, enjoy. I personally like the end

Chapter 5. (wow, already?)

Sara only barely managed to look up again at the paper Warrick was still staring at. She reach out and took it, quickly tearing it into pieces.

"Hey, now!" Warrick started. Sara glared at him.

"I can't believe someone would do this!" said Sara angrily. Warrick gave a small chuckle.

"I think it's probably a good thing Grissom walked out before he saw it."

"Saw what?" Warrick turned sharply while Sara turned red.

"Oh, uh ..." Warrick fell silent. He then gave a nervous laugh. "It was, eh ..." Obviously he wasn't good at giving stories under such pressure.

"Let's get to work," Sara said firmly, standing from the stool and continuing to spread out the pictures. Grissom raised an eyebrow at the both of them and shrugged, making his way to stand a few feet away from Sara.

Sara sat at her kitchen table, the shredded pieces of the picture laying before her in a pile. After regular shift ended, Warrick had convinced her to go home. She could think about the case there without having to put up with Grissom and the fact that the newest picture on her mind Grissom knew nothing about. Not to say that she herself didn't mind looking at the picture- it wasn't like it was an unpleasant sight- it was just terribly embarrassing and it had startled her at first.

When Grissom had arrived in the layout room, Sara stuffed the pieces of paper in her coat pocket. Now she was trying to smooth them out and put the picture back together. A roll of Scotch tape and a larger piece of paper near to her, she started with what she thought were the outer edges and gradually moved in.

With the completed form taped to the extra paper, she was able to get a full, closer view of it. Sighing angrily, she stood and picked up her phone, quickly dialing Catherine's cell phone number.

"Willows," came the familiar voice.

"Hey, Cath, it's Sara. Are you busy?"

"Just driving home, why?"

"Oh. So ... you haven't talked to those EMT's?"

"No ... I though we told you they were on vacation?"

"You did, I just ..." There was a brief pause between the two.

"Sara? Something wrong?" Sara hesitated before replying.

"We- Warrick and I- were in the layout room with the pictures from the case that was handed down from day shift. Grissom left the room with what I'm guessing was an urgent phone call. Warrick found an-another picture." Sara stopped there. She didn't think she'd be able to tell Catherine the details of it- it was too funny. "I-I have it here."

"I'll be right there," Catherine said slowly before hanging up. Sara set her phone back in its cradle and sat down to wait.

When a heavy knock came to her door, Sara jumped up. She knew it was Catherine, and quickly rushed to her door to throw it open. Catherine walked in, Sara guiding her to the kitchen where the picture still lay taped together on the table.

Catherine sat with the paper held away from her face, examining it. Sara sat across from her, waiting nervously. After what seemed like an eternity, Catherine finally spoke.

"You know, that case had been handed down directly from day shift to Grissom. Grissom was the only night shift worker who touched the file."

"You're saying it was someone from days?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Know anyone who would be out to get you or Grissom?" Catherine immediately regretted asking. Sara scoffed sarcastically. "Okay, never mind answering that." There was a pause once more, lengthy and silent.

"Why would EMT's have their hands on case files?" Sara asked slowly.

"Hm?"

"The email address of the previous picture was the address of some EMT's. If this picture was intentionally placed in the file, whoever put it there knew Grissom was going to handle the case. It wouldn't be a bunch of idiot EMT's."

Catherine looked up at Sara, her mouth open slightly.

"So ... Ecklie? Someone from his team?" Sara nodded.

"Maybe someone favored, someone who wasn't supervised much." Catherine leaned forward, her elbow on the table, still looking down at the picture in her hands. “But someone may have paid the EMT's ..."

"I doubt it. They're CSI's. You'd figure they'd know we'd find out sooner or later," Sara said.

"Think Grissom would know?"

Grissom sat at his desk, staring irritably at the impossibly large and over-stuffed envelope that lay in the only clear spot of desk in sight. It (the envelope) would have been comical if Grissom hadn't been in such a foul mood. Actually, it probably wouldn't have been that funny a sight anyway, considering Ecklie had pulled him away from an urgent case just to give it to him “in person,” as he had said. Why he couldn't have just put it on his desk was a mystery to Grissom. Taking a look around, however, he figured it probably would have gotten lost and never been seen again.

What Grissom really wanted to know, however, was who this package was really from. Ecklie had handed it over, saying he was told to pass it on. He had not hinted at who it may have been who wanted the envelope in Grissom's hands.

Picking it up, he fumbled with it before tearing it apart. Inside, he found tiny, folded pieces of paper. Glaring angrily down at the tiny papers he had poured onto his desk, he sighed. Some joke.

Peering at the folded papers closely, he noted they were tinged with color, most likely from ink on the other side. Picking one of them up, he slowly began unfolding it. He smoothed it out when he had finished and found it was a part of his face and left shoulder. Suddenly interested, he furiously began to unfold the other pieces.

When he had finished and spaced them apart, he saw now that it was a picture. Scattered here and there were pieces of himself and Sara, sometimes close together. Clearing more space from his desk, he made sure the tape was near. He began setting the picture back together.

Sara yawned. She hadn't got a wink of sleep while at home.

After talking to Catherine, they decided Sara would talk to Grissom, even if the old wimp got uncomfortable about it. Sara, however, cowered out of it as soon as she saw him working furiously on something behind a leaning mountain of papers in his office.

Catherine had gone home when she left Sara's apartment, but Sara went straight back to work. She figured her excuse would consist of both Warrick and Grissom still working on the case, and Sara just felt guilty about them being at the lab while she got to sleep at home.

It was Catherine's idea, of course.

At the thought of Catherine, Sara felt a pang of guilt. Cath had masterfully come up with this seemingly flawless plan, and here Sara was backing out of it. Can't blame me, right? It is a lot harder than it seems, she falsely assured herself. She just didn't want to do it while Catherine was in the building, though that, too, seemed foolish.

Since Grissom was obviously angry and preoccupied in his office, Sara thought the wise thing to do at the moment was find Warrick. First, however, she had to catch a cup of coffee. Stepping into the break room, she saw a blonde woman pouring two cups of coffee. The woman stepped away and Sara moved in to pour her own.

The woman stood to the side, the cups in her hands, watching Sara with a sly smile. Sara glanced up, then to her cup, and back toward the woman.

"Big case?" Sara asked, trying to ease some of the one-sided tension.

"Oh, no, I'm just here to see Dr. Grissom," the woman replied. She gave Sara a nasty smirk and turned, leaving the room. Sara stared uncomfortably after her.

She didn't much like Sofia Curtis.

The door to Grissom's office opened, and he quickly took a stack of papers from the teetering tower and placed them on top of his unfinished work, hiding it from the woman who had entered. How she had managed to come in with a cup of coffee in each hand, he doubt he'd ever figure out.

She sat in the chair in front of his desk, giving him one of the cups she had held. She leaned back and crossed her legs, sipping her coffee. She watched him for a long few minutes before speaking.

"What's that you have?" she asked slyly. Grissom looked down. Did she know what he had been doing?

"Just some paperwork," he answered politely. The woman- Sofia, wasn't it?- only broadened her smile and took another long sip of coffee. She watched his nervous form over the rim of her cup, as though she knew he was lying.

"I suppose you know what I'm here for?"

"I do," Grissom said with a curt nod, his arms folded. His cup of coffee sat forgotten next to him.

"Well, before we get to that, I want to ask you some personal questions."

"If these questions do not extend beyond the boundary of my liking, I may answer them."

"Such gracefully used words, Dr. Grissom," said Sofia, lowering her now half-empty cup (she drinks fast, doesn't she?) to her lap, tilting it back and forth to the sides lightly. Grissom didn't respond. She cleared her throat lightly. "What is your relationship with your subordinate Sara Sidle?" When she finished her sentence, she slowly lifted the cup once more to her lips and pretended to take a sip as she watched him over the rim.

Grissom's expression soured even more, if that was possible.

"Did Conrad Ecklie put you up to this?" he said, trying to conceal the anger in his voice.

Sofia gave a small giggle. "To ask you questions, no. I'm only asking out of mere curiosity."

"Why would you care about my personal life?" Sofia didn't answer. There was a lengthy, awkward silence between them. Grissom sat fuming while Sofia sat aglow with delight. "Can we just get to business, please?"

Grissom huffed angrily as he walked into the break room and headed directly for the coffee maker. It was only half finished brewing a new cup of coffee. He stared at it as though glaring would make it go faster, when he heard a grunt- or a snort- from somewhere nearby. Turning around, he saw Sara stretching in her sleep. Her shoes on the floor beside her, he could see her toes flexing, her arms stretching behind her head.

She gave another strained groan of pleasure, followed by a soft thump as she hit the floor.

A/N: :) I guess you could say that this chapter and the next chapter ... hell, maybe even the rest of the story, will be touched here and there with spoilers from 11/25's episode Mea Culpa (get spoilers and a spoilerific article at in her wonderful spoiler section). Comments and criticism welcome, wanted, much needed.