Chapter 2

Sara and Warrick, after glancing at each other, started down after her, followed by Brass, his jaw clenched tightly. He'd already seen what had been done to this woman, and it made him sick. Dani's hand clenched into a fist as the crime scene finally came into view, and, had she not clenched her stomach tightly, she might have hurled all over the crime scene just from the stench.

The woman was barely recognisable as a human, her face was covered in blood. It was the only part of her that seemed pretty well undamaged. Her arms and legs were covered with cuts and her chest and stomach with stab wounds. Her throat was slit, which was where most of the blood had come from. She could see, dimly, that the woman had dark red hair…or was that blonde hair stained with blood? Half of her wanted to just run, right then and there, but she forced herself to stay, looking up at the senior CSIs, Sara and Warrick, and waiting for them to tell her what to do.

They both were just as disgusted as Dani, but they pushed their way carefully past her and started processing, taking pictures, swabs, dropping stuff into evidence envelopes…all that stuff. She started walking around the room, looking for the murder weapon, although somehow she doubted it would be here. If this was a signature killer, which it was beginning to look like, whoever it was would have taken their weapon with them, to use in their next murder. Which they had to prevent, at all costs.

---------------------------------Nick's Case -----------------------------------------------------------

Griss, Nick's and Catherine's case was, unlike the other's, on the surface quite easy. The wife had been found, the gun still in her hand, the dead husband lying on the floor of the living room. The wife was obviously distraught, and kept saying, over and over again, that she hadn't shot him, but all the evidence obviously pointed to her. When asked for her statement, she'd said that they'd been fighting, and she'd grabbed the gun, not really planning to shoot him, just wanting to scare him. Then she remembered the sound of a shot going off, and then he'd been on the ground. So basically, Nick, Catherine and Grissom just had to process the scene and make sure there was evidence to make sure her statement was false.

Nick was currently taking a swab of the blood, mechanically, his mind obviously not really on his job. He placed the swab in an evidence bag, then stood up, looking around at the other two, and was about to say something when Catherine interrupted him. "Look, guys, this is pretty straight-forward. All they need to convict is the bullet, which will match the gun…why are we still here?" She asked, looking at Grissom for an answer.

Grissom finished taping a fingerprint from the gun and looked up at the two of them. "What if the bullet doesn't match, Catherine? Then we won't have a fresh crime scene to work with anymore. Keep processing." She looked annoyed, but turned back to what she was doing with a sigh. Never argue with Grissom. He also turned back to photographing the blood splattered all over the ground.

"When will we know about the bullet?" He asked Grissom after a few minutes. "The body's been shipped to the morgue, the autopsy will be done in an hour or so, then the bullet will have to go to ballistics…I'd say maybe an hour and a half?" Grissom said without looking up. Nick sighed, rubbing his forehead with one hand. It was going to be a really long night.

------------------------------------------Dani's scene--------------------------------------------------

"Alright, Dani?" Dani looked up at Sara from where she'd been fingerprinting in the corner. "You and I will take the perimeter. Warrick? You stay down here and finish processing the body. Come on, Dani." Sara started up the stairs, and Dani grabbed her kit and followed her, yawning. She was still exhausted from the last case, where she'd been pulling up to quadruple shifts at a time. She'd made it through, with a lot of coffee and a lot of kisses from her 'special someone', who had stayed just as long as she had, even though he wasn't even on her case.

As they exited the house, Sara motioned vaguely to the left. "I'll take the left side, you take the right side?" She suggested, and Dani nodded, and they both moved over towards their respective locations, and before long they were both kneeling on the ground, examining something or other, kits open. It was going to be a long night…

-----------------------------------1 hour later, Nick's crime scene ----------------------------------

Wonder how Dani's case is going…hope she has a more exciting case than this one…maybe I should call her…no, you can't, what are you thinking? You're on the clock, you'll talk to her back at the lab. Nick, as was obvious even just looking at him, was obviously not putting everything he had into this case. After all, it was basically open and shut, the lab would be calling any minute to tell them that the bullet matched, and they could all go back to the lab…or maybe he'd swing over to Dani's scene, see if they needed help. Of course, Grissom wouldn't let him, he never let them go to a scene alone anymore. Smart man.

Catherine looked up at Nick and grinned, seeing the faraway expression on his face as he dusted the tabletop for prints mechanically. "Thinking about Dani, Nicko?" She asked, grinning slyly as he jumped and turned to her, slightly flushed.

"Ya…" He said, and chuckled slightly. "Name a time when I'm not thinking about her…" Catherine smiled, then turned back to her own work, feeling rather sad. She'd never had that kind of relationship with Eddie…never…but no, she shouldn't be feeling sad for what's over and done with, but rather, feel happy for Nick and Dani. They were so happy…so obviously in love…she'd seen it ever since Dani had stepped into the break room. They were obviously meant for each other, no doubt about that.

Nick smiled, allowing himself a moment to think about Dani fully, then turned 75 of his mind back to the case, allowing the last 25 a bit of leisure time to think about his butterfly…his love…Dani…He smiled to himself, remembering the first time he'd met Dani. It had been the most innocent of circumstances. In fact, she'd walked in on him when he was singing, by himself in the break room. He'd stood up, startled, and the first thought that ran through his head was: What the hell is she doing in here? She's not a CSI…better escort her out… Ya, not the most romantic thoughts…but hey, he did have a responsibility.

Then she'd introduced herself as 'Danielle Ryan, the new intern,' and he'd smiled and shook her hand. Even then, he'd wondered: How does someone that pretty become a CSI? Beats me… It still didn't make sense to him, but then, if she hadn't been a CSI, he wouldn't have met her…and he would have never known what true happiness was. He smiled, visioning her in his mind's eye, leaves in her hair, after their first case…with bruises on her cheek, after her ex had beat her up…That bastard… He thought to himself. Although it had been quite a while since that incident, and neither of them ever brought it up, he couldn't help but still feel a rage of anger whenever he thought about it.

He was broken out of his reverie by the sound of Grissom's cell phone ringing. Finally. He thought to himself, thanking his lucky stars that he was finally getting out of this boredom.

"Grissom." Gil said as he flipped open his cell phone and held it to his ear. A long pause, then a confused. "What? Is she alright?" Another long pause. "Where? Desert Palm? Ok, we'll be there as soon as we can…" He then shut the phone and looked at Catherine and Nick, who were both looking at him with confused expression on their faces.

"We have to get to the hospital." Was all Grissom said, and stood up, heading towards the door, and Nick, with a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, immediately stood up and followed.

((Finished Chapter 2!! Yay, it was actually pretty long!! Ok, so I filled in a bunch of sappy junk in the middle there…but I needed space fillers!!! Ok, please review!! Chapter 3 will be up soon!!))