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Val swung open her locker door. "Just before you go, I want to give this to you."

Sara frowned. "Give what?"

Val looked back at Sara. "Remember how I said I bought you something earlier today?"

Sara frowned good-naturedly, "Listen Val, you really didn't have to… I mean, I haven't gotten you anything…"

"Doesn't matter," Val said. "I was going to give it to you earlier, but I forgot. I don't want to forget again," Val explained as she pulled a bag out from her locker. "I thought it'd be a good idea to give this to you now, seeing as we're both taking a break from our respective cases." She held the bag out to Sara.

Sara blinked, and looked at it suspiciously. "What is it?"

Val did the orbital roll. "It's what I bought for you. I told you earlier this shift. Remember?" She proffered the bag again.

Sara, reluctantly, took the bag. "You really shouldn't have. I mean…"

"Sara, I bought it for you." Val was matter-of-fact and at the same time, grinning. "If you don't like it, you can do what you want with it. But for heaven's sake, just open it!" She laughed.

Sara looked at Val carefully. Only a few minutes before the red-head had been close to tears; now she was laughing and smiling.

"Go on," Val prompted, her grey-green eyes glittering mischievously, "It's not going to bite you."

Sara smiled, opened the bag, and pulled out…

"A shirt."

Val rolled her eyes again. "It's a blouse, Sara. A blouse. Not a shirt. A blouse."

Sara tucked the empty bag under her arm and held the blouse in both hands. It was cornflower blue, and fairly plain, aside from a few ruffles here and there. It looked very good quality, though. Sara looked at Val and frowned teasingly. "Is that it?"

Val grinned back. "I knew you'd like it. Try it on!"

Sara looked down at the blouse again. "You know, I… I think I should get back to work."

"Yes," Val agreed, "After you put the blouse on."

"It's just a blouse," Sara protested. "It's not that important."

Val raised an eyebrow.

"And it's not like anyone's going to notice." Sara said, still trying to defend herself.

"I'm sure Grissom would." Val said gently, still smiling.

Sara blanched. "Who told you…"

Val laughed. "I'm a CSI, Sara. I notice everything." She giggled. "Go on, try it on. At least that way you'll know whether it fits or not." She shut her locker door with a grin. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work." She waved farewell, then headed down the corridors with a spring in her step.

Sara looked down at the blouse in her hands. Well, it certainly was a nice shade of blue. And Val had gone to all the trouble of buying it for her. Ah, why not. She tossed the empty bag in the trash and headed for the ladies' room.

-

Greg had his stereo going as Nick walked in. The labrat turned it down and held out a small pile of papers for Nick.

"Good news and bad news," Greg said slowly. "The blood you guys collected off the catwalk all belongs to one model."

"Yeah, well according to Dana McCormick's statement, it all belongs to the missing supermodel."

Greg nodded, "If I had something to compare it to, I might be able to verify it."

"You said good news and bad news," Nick frowned in mock-suspicion. "What's the bad news?"

Greg shrugged. "Maybe the fact that Tina's blood is all over the catwalk?"

Nick sobered. "Yeah. Good point." He held up the papers as he turned and walked away. "Thanks man."

Greg waved back, then turned the volume of the stereo back up and got back to work.

Nick leafed through the papers as he headed for the fingerprint lab. Jacquie looked up from her own work.

"Hey, Nick," she said, "Just give me a second." She peered through the handheld magnifier between two fingerprint samples.

"The multiples from Days?" Nick asked.

"Mm-hmm… Jackpot!" She grinned and made some notes. "Match. Ecklie will leap for joy."

Nick laughed. "The day Ecklie leaps for joy is the day that it snows in the Sahara."

Jacquie nodded sagely. "Good point. So, how can I help you?"

"You get the fingerprint results back from the crack bags yet?"

Jacquie nodded. "Sure did." Her eyes flickered past Nick. "Hey Sara."

Nick turned around. Sara stood in the doorway, arms folded, but smiling. Nick raised an eyebrow.

"Nice shirt."

Sara sighed and mumbled something.

"Pardon?"

"I said," Sara shrugged, "It's a blouse."

It looked good on her - the colour suited her perfectly. Nick smiled approvingly. "Nice choice."

"Val got it for me," Sara said, as though apologising.

Nick smiled thoughtfully, but said nothing.

"Well, then this temp's got good taste," Jacquie said. "You two want your results or what?"

Sara stared. "Wow. That was fast."

"Yeah, well, I'd rather work this case than any of Day Shift's." Jacquie said, rolling her eyes. "They've been giving me hell." She rolled her chair over to her computer and tapped a few keys. "You guys aren't going to like this," she said dryly, as she brought up the results. "You guys gave me six plastic bags. Heaps of smudges, plenty of partials… but I got at least twenty good fingerprints."

"So why is that bad?" Nick frowned with a smile. He and Sara leaned over her shoulder to watch as the data came up on screen. Prints flashed past, blinking in green, the words 'Match' flashing past… then, suddenly, the screen split in four, and four fingerprints, each in their own section of the screen, flashed in red. 'Unknown'.

Jacquie shook her head. "Because four of them don't belong to Marcus Vincent."

-

"Two bedroom, two bathroom murder houses in outer suburbia, Las Vegas. They in Navajo White or Robin's Egg blue. Or whatever the hell colour you want to paint them." Warrick flipped through the blueprints again, then peered at the fine print, as though to discern some clue that Vega wouldn't find for him. Val was drawing on the whiteboard, writing the addresses and scrawling a quick location map.

"If it's a serial killer," she said, adding a street name, "Could that mean that the killer lives in one of the houses? Serial killers tend to operate in an area familiar to them." She added a cross on one of the houses - the house that had belonged to Hattie Birch.

"True," Warrick agreed, "But then, aren't their choice of victims also uniform? There has to be some link between them all."

Val raised an eyebrow over her shoulder. "You mean, the wood idea is out?"

"Ha." Warrick smiled, but shook his head. "I really don't see that as a link."

Val sighed, then checked her notes again and went back to drawing on the whiteboard… and she drew a picture of a tree. Warrick rolled his eyes.

At that moment, Vega came in. "I ran the background check on the company that designed those houses."

"Wow. That was fast," Val grinned.

"What," Vega frowned good-naturedly, "Police aren't swift and efficient in Seattle?"

Val laughed, "No, the police are fine. It's the lab that kinda sucks. I have to ask people at least eight times, then whine and complain to the boss that nothing's happening, before anything gets done." She gave a meaningful - and slightly warning - look to Warrick. "I'm not exactly Little Miss Popular." She shrugged. "For various reasons." She grinned at Vega. "So far, I think Vegas rocks, especially regarding the speed at information collection."

Vega grinned back, then referred to his notes, "Well, the company that designed and built the houses is called Forrester and York."

Val leapt on that. "Forrester! Someone who cuts down trees!"

"Stop with the tree thing already!"

Vega looked between Val and Warrick and decided not to comment. He looked back at the papers in his hands. "Pamela Forrester and Michael York started the company about twenty years ago, then about fifteen years ago their company name changed to York Design and Construction."

"Why?" Warrick asked.

"Because they tied the knot."

"What, they're married?" Val raised an eyebrow. "A husband-and-wife team making houses in Vegas?"

"Weird, huh?" Vega grinned. "Anyway, they changed the name of their company back to Forrester and York about ten years ago because people trusted the longer name, then it was around this time that the houses were built. I did background checks on both Pamela and Michael. Neither have any criminal records."

"Course not," Val agreed, "Because they've never been caught. Right?"

Vega looked at Val pointedly, then shrugged. "Well, maybe they didn't do it."

"Detective," Val frowned, "With all due respect, I've been under Julia Westwood's house. Whoever dug the tunnel knew the placement of the foundations. Someone who had access to the blueprints. And we don't have any other leads."

"Well, they'd have to be alive, right?"

Val's mouth made an 'o' shape, but she said nothing.

"Five years ago," Vega continued, the smile gone from his face, "The Yorks were involved in a five-car pileup. Pamela was killed instantly, but Michael survived." He looked at Warrick. "I contacted him. He's willing to talk to you if you want."

"Good idea," Warrick said, "Then we can find out who else had access to the blueprints." Val nodded in agreement, but said nothing. They followed Vega out of the layout room and down the corridors.

"Hey, Val!"

Val's head snapped around. Nick was coming out of the fingerprint lab and walking down the corridor towards her. Sara was following close behind… She was wearing the blouse.

"Meet you outside," Warrick said, patting Val on the shoulder.

"Thanks." Val grumbled.

"Hey," Nick grinned, "Uh, how's your case going?"

Val smiled and nodded. "Umm, it's… going fine. Thanks for asking."

"That's good." Nick nodded.

Sara rolled her eyes behind Nick's back.

"So, umm, Valerie…" Nick cleared his throat, "Well, when your case is over, do you want to go get breakfast somewhere?"

As if on cue, Val's phone began to ring. Val turned and looked at Greg through the glass walls. He quickly hung up and tried to look innocent.

"Umm, thanks but no thanks." Val said, turning back to Nick. "I'm busy. Rain check?"

"Busy?" Nick frowned, "Doing what?"

Sara cleared her throat. "I'm taking her on a tour of Vegas."

Nick turned around to stare at Sara. Val did a silent sigh of relief. Thankyou, Sara. She mouthed. Sara smiled at Nick.

"Oh, okay." Nick shrugged. "Some other time then?"

Val shrugged. "Maybe. We'll see."

"Cool." Nick grinned. "hey, umm… do you…" He frowned, as though unsure of how to phrase the question. "Do you… do you drink green tea?"

Val frowned. "Ah, no. I prefer jasmine tea. Why?"

"Oh no reason."

Val nodded. "Okay." She turned to go, then turned back. "Nick, do you like peanut butter?"

Nick frowned and shook his head. "Naw, I hate the stuff. Why?"
Val blinked and looked innocent. "Oh, no reason." She cleared her throat and looked up the corridors. "Umm, listen, I gotta go. See you… whenever. Bye." She waved then hurried after Warrick and Vega.

"What I do?" Nick asked, turning to Sara.

Sara shrugged. "I don't know." Well, not really. I mean, she asked me not to tell… She smiled, "What was that green tea thing about?"

Nick did an imitation of a fish out of water. "I… I … I dunno."

Sara smirked knowingly. "Really?"

Suddenly both Nick and Sara's pagers went off. It was Grissom.

A/N: Green tea and peanut butter for EVERYONE! Extra long chapter for you all. Reviews make me happy.