A/N: For my purposes in this story, Mea Culpa never happened.

Is anyone still with me? Hellooo? Hello?

Catherine slumped into the booth at the diner. Warrick sat next to her, and Nick and Greg took the seats across the table. She ran a hand over her face. "Damn, I've only been up an hour, and I'm already exhausted."

Warrick surreptitiously put his hand on her knee under the table. The gesture startled her at first, but ultimately comforted her, as it was intended to do.

Catherine made up her mind. "Guys," she started slowly. "I have an idea, but before I go into it, I need each one of you to give me your word that you won't feel pressured into going along with it, ok?" She looked around at her teammates' confused faces. They didn't know what she meant, but they each nodded.

She took a deep breath. "Ok, what if the entire nightshift quits?"

She looked around at their reactions. Nick had one eyebrow raised, Greg's mouth was slightly open, and Warrick was giving her that incredibly sexy Warrick stare. She continued, "I'm thinking that if we all quit, Ecklie will be royally fucked. I mean, think about it—we have the highest solve rate of any shift. We're valuable, guys. If we stage what essentially amounts to a walkout, the lab will grind to a halt. Basically, it's the world's biggest bluff," she said, putting it in terms Warrick would understand. He raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. She continued, "Hopefully Ecklie won't call our bluff, but just in case…I have a backup plan." She sat back with a satisfied look on her face, waiting for someone to take the bait.

Nick leaned forward. "Hello? Yes, Cath? Backup plan?"

"I happen to have a very close friend at the Las Vegas Sun. Said friend also happens to owe me a rather large favor. I know Grissom would hate it, but I could bring some serious media coverage to the firings if I had to. And it would not paint Ecklie in a pretty light."

Nick sat back and considered. After a moment he turned the corners of his mouth downward as he cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows. "Not bad, Cath," he mused. "Not bad at all…"

Warrick nodded. "Yeah, I'm in."

Greg nodded his assent, as well.

Catherine cautioned them, "Now, guys, I want you to think about this long and hard. Ultimately, this is a gamble, and it could really cost us all our jobs. I'll be okay if I lose mine," she said, referring to Sam Braun and his money, "but you guys need to evaluate whether the risk is worth it to you."

"Hey, Cath, we've all got degrees. It's not like we couldn't get a job anywhere else, you know?"

"I know, but, still… Just think about it, ok?"

"No need to think," Warrick said, effectively ending the conversation.

"Ok, then. We go in tonight, wait for Ecklie to make his little announcement, and inform him that we don't work without Gil and Sara."

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Catherine, Warrick, Nick, and Greg were more than a little nervous as they gathered in the break room at the start of shift. They had to pretend to go about life as normal, as if they had no idea what had happened to their friends. They were sitting around the table as usual when Ecklie strode in. The four friends took one look at Ecklie's split and swollen lip and exchanged subtle glances. What the hell had happened to him?

Ecklie slapped a folder down on the table with a self-satisfied smirk and looked the group over. Without further hesitation, he announced, "Catherine, you're in charge until further notice. Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle have been fired."

Catherine feigned surprise and indignation as she jumped up and said, "What?! Why were they fired?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but they both took unauthorized leave."

"No, they didn't! Sara has the flu and Grissom's mother had to have emergency surgery."

Ecklie gave her a look of patronizing disbelief. "Catherine, you don't actually expect me to believe that you had no knowledge of Grissom and Sidle's little Florida vacation, do you?"

"Florida?" Catherine was giving an Oscar-worthy performance.

Ecklie rolled his eyes, unwilling to play this game any longer. "Catherine, drop it. For now, you're in char—"

Catherine boldly interrupted. "Conrad, Gil and I are close friends, and if I didn't even know about this, might I inquire as to how you found out that they were in Florida?"

Ecklie looked so smug that Catherine was tempted to clean his clock. 'Patience, patience,' she chided herself. With any luck, Ecklie would get his soon enough. From the look of things, she mused, someone out there already had a head start on giving Ecklie his comeuppance.

"If you must know, Ms. Willows, I became suspicious when I couldn't get either Grissom or Sidle to return my phone calls. So I looked in Grissom's personnel file and found his mother's number and gave her a little call. It was obvious she was not in the hospital, so I took the liberty of tracing his cell phone signal. I didn't get a hit off of his phone, so I tried Sidle's. Lo and behold, I get signals originating from a tower in Destin, Florida. I kept checking, and then suddenly I get a signal out of Atlanta. So I called McCarran on a hunch and asked about the next flight due in from Atlanta. I was waiting at the baggage claim area for them."

Catherine dug her nails so tightly into her palm that she thought she might draw blood. "So you fired them," she said flatly. "For being in Florida."

"That is correct."

"Even though they both have weeks and weeks of leave stored up."

"Yes. They lied about their whereabouts and gave absolutely no notice of their…activities," he said with a sneer. "Ms. Willows, is there a point to this?"

"Hmm," she stated. She glanced back at the guys. "What do you guys think about this?" she asked.

Nick laid his head over to the side, eyeing Ecklie, and drawled, "I think it smells fishy."

Catherine continued. "Well, Conrad, I think I can speak for all four of us when I say that we're going to refuse to work without Gil and Sara." She pursed her lips and looked to the boys for confirmation. Warrick, Nick, and even Greg, in an unusual display of balls, stared Ecklie down, nodding in unison.

Ecklie's eyes widened, and he sputtered, "You do not call the shots in this lab. You will all work or be fired."

Catherine raised an eyebrow and said, "The choice is yours, Ecklie. Hire them back or lose your entire nightshift." With that, she sat down, leaning casually back in her chair, inspecting the polish on her nails. They weren't in a union, but they might as well have been for all the collective bargaining prowess they were currently displaying.

Ecklie's voice became low and menacing as he growled, "I will not hire them back."

Catherine feigned nonchalance and shrugged, then looked over at the guys and said, "Well, I guess that's that. Looks like we've got the night off, boys." She leaned forward conspiratorially. "I hear there's a great new club that just opened up at the Mirage. Wanna go get into your party clothes and have a night on the town?" she asked animatedly.

As Ecklie looked on in shock, Warrick got into the act. "Ooh, yeah," he said. "I know a guy that DJs there, and he said that the place kicks ass. I'm in. You in, Nick?" he asked for show.

Nick bobbed his head. "I'm in, Bro. How 'bout you, Greggo?"

Greg nodded enthusiastically. "You know," he said dramatically, completely ignoring Ecklie's presence, "I've been dying to see Catherine in a hot little number, and now I've got my chance. Let's go." Catherine gave him a suggestive wink and pursed her lips seductively.

With that, the four remaining nightshift CSIs stood up and walked out of the breakroom, leaving a stunned and furious Conrad Ecklie in their wake.

----------

The four of them headed to the locker room to gather up their things. As soon as the door shut behind them, Catherine leaned against the wall, shaking furiously. Her knees buckled and she started to slide down the wall to the floor, but Warrick's strong arms caught her and held her up. Helping her over to the bench, he said, "You ok, Cath?"

She drew a few deep breaths, trying to steady her nerves. Finally, she answered, "Yeah. I just…" She paused. Shaking her head, she said, "Damn, that was harder than I thought it would be!"

Nick gave a low chuckle. "That it was. But you were incredible." Warrick and Greg voiced their agreement. "And that smug SOB will have a few things to think about now. I looked at the assignment folder when he threw it down, and it looked like it was chock-full of cases." He gave Catherine a wink. "I have a feeling our presence is going to be sorely missed this evening."

She rewarded him with a shaky smile. "Come on, guys. We need to go tell Gil and Sara about this. And besides," she said. "I could really use a drink right about now."

----------

Grissom started in surprise when the doorbell rang. He looked at his watch. The rest of his team would be at work right now. Who could it be? He glanced over at Sara, who was sitting on the couch giggling. He had finally gotten her calmed down and, to keep her mood light, he put in a DVD—Bruce Almighty. He figured she might be amused to see someone losing their job in a worse way than she had. And besides, he had mused, Jim Carrey could make anyone laugh their ass off.

Assuring himself that Sara was indeed fine, he stepped to his front door and was shocked to see four heads through the peephole. Swinging the door open, he looked at them in amazement. Catherine stood there grinning, Greg held four pizza boxes, and Warrick and Nick had their hands full of liquor and beer.

"Boss!" Nick quipped as he barged past Grissom for the second time that day. Grissom stepped back wordlessly and allowed the others to come in. Catherine entered last and hung back with Grissom.

"How is she?" she asked in a low voice.

Grissom bit back the question he was dying to ask her and tilted his head as he answered. "She's better, I think. It took awhile to get her calmed down, but I think she's okay now." Catherine smiled and gave Grissom and unexpected hug. When she pulled back, he was looking at her curiously. "What was that for?"

Catherine shrugged, embarrassed. "Um, actually, it just really touched me how gentle you were with her earlier, and I can just, uh, tell that you're really happy." She shrugged again. "I'm just really happy for you, and I'm pissed that Ecklie did this to you."

They walked into the living room as she finished her statement. Grissom spoke up. "Which brings me to my next point. What the hell are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be at the lab?"

Greg, Warrick, and Nick looked at Catherine. This was her deal—Grissom was going to be pissed at their stunt, and since it was her idea, she got to break the news. Catherine didn't disappoint. "Yeah, well, we quit."

Sara, who had been busy digging through a pizza box, snapped to attention. As Grissom stood speechless, Sara screeched, "You did WHAT?!"

Nick put a hand on her back. "Easy there, girl."

Catherine turned to her. "Calm down, Sara. It's part of my fiendish master plan to take over the world," she said wryly.

Grissom had finally recovered. "Catherine. What the holy hell are you talking about?"

Catherine turned to him, resigned to the fact that this was not going to be over with quickly or easily. "Gil," she reasoned, waving a hand in the air, "I've got a plan here. If the entire night shift quits—the shift with the highest solve rate at the 2nd busiest lab in the country, I might add—somebody's going to sit up and take notice. And Ecklie's going to have to explain himself." She shrugged. "I figured it was the best shot of getting you guys your jobs back."

"And if that doesn't work?" Grissom said angrily.

Catherine sighed. He wasn't going to like this. "Then I go see a good friend over at the Sun and call in a rather large favor."

Grissom looked at her as if she'd lost her mind, causing Sara to giggle, which drew everyone's attention to her. "What?" she shrugged. "He looks funny!"

This elicited a small smile from Grissom, and Catherine could have kissed Sara for her timing. As Grissom visibly relaxed, he looked at Catherine and said, "Cath, I can't believe you did this. I think you're crazy, and so help me I'm going to feel like shit if you all end up unemployed. But…" he softened, "it means a lot to me that you guys care enough to do this." Suddenly he thought of something else. "So do you know how Ecklie found us?"

Catherine rolled her eyes. "God, the fucking bastard traced Sara's cell phone signal. He got a signal in Florida, and kept checking until he got a signal out of Atlanta, then he went to the airport to "greet" you," she said sarcastically.

Sara looked horrified. Before she had a chance to freak out and blame herself, Grissom held out a hand to stop her. "No, Sara. It's not your fault. If we hadn't used your phone, we would have used mine. You can't be held responsible for the fact that Ecklie's an asshole."

After a quiet moment, Nick spoke up with a smile. "Pizza's getting cold, guys. What do you say we all just get trashed?"

Grissom looked at him and said, "Nicky, I never thought I'd say this, but there's nothing I'd rather do with you guys right now." And with that, he reached for a beer, which he promptly handed to Sara. Looking around, he said, "You guys up for a movie? Let's order pay-per-view."