Previously on 'As The Lab Turns':
The VW Bug stopped, but only after it had hit Grissom, sending him flying about twenty feet. The panic stricken driver raced over to him and screamed. "Someone call 9-1-1!"
"Well aside from a broken pelvis, a dislocated hip, three broken ribs, a lacerated lung, a dislocated shoulder, a nasty bump on the head, and being in a coma, he's in perfect physical health." The too young, too suave and sophisticated looking doctor informed Sophia.
Sophia nodded in understanding and sank into a chair in the waiting room. "Thank you, doctor."
"How long do you think he'll have to be in the hospital?" Homicide detective Jim Brass queried with his best investigative expression.
"Too early to say, really." The doctor nodded seriously.
"But he'll be ok?" Greg looked somewhat panic stricken at the thought that his mentor was so seriously injured.
Sophia reached over and gave Greg a reassuring pat on his shoulder. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
Greg had a clenched jaw as he regarded Sophia. He obviously had something on his mind that had nothing to do with Grissom's condition.
The exchange went unnoticed by Brass as he returned his attention to the doctor. "Let me know as soon as he's awake."
"No, Catherine, it is a serious infraction. You and Brown were getting it together on company time on company premises. The demotion stands, and so does your return to the nightshift." Ecklie narrowed his gaze at her from across his desk. "For now, CSI Stokes will remain the shift supervisor."
"For now?" Catherine arched a brow at Ecklie in hopes that she could find some way to negotiate a return to her previous status.
Ecklie had a conspiratorial look on his face. "I might be moved to reconsider given the right circumstance." He arched both brows at her and pursed his lips together as he left that hanging between them.
Catherine seemed to be catching on to what he was inferring, but she wasn't sure she liked it. "The right circumstance."
Ecklie smirked. "I help you, you help me. An exchange between friends if you will." The expression on his face left little doubt about what he was implying.
"And if I don't?" Catherine just wanted to consider all of her options.
Ecklie leaned forward and put his elbows on the desk. "Well then I hope you like working under Stokes." He looked down at a file to indicate that the conversation was over.
Catherine's voice was thick and sultry. "I'd rather work under you." The way she was looking at Ecklie made it abundantly clear that she was going to take him up on his offer. It was the only way she was going to be able to work her way up the ladder and get his job someday so she could sleep with whomever the hell she wanted to without repercussions. She only hoped that Warrick would understand that she was doing it for them.
"Sara, this is getting to be a habit with you." Nick gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as Sara worked her magic from where she was kneeling underneath his desk.
She paused for a moment. "Well you once told me that you should always try and please your supervisor and I know how much you like this."
"Oh, yeah." Nick let out a moan and almost didn't hear someone knocking on the door. His eyes snapped open and he tried to regain a measure of composure even as Sara was doing her best to distract him.
"Nick." Warrick stood there with a stoic expression on his face. "You gonna help me with that car, or should I get started?" Warrick wasn't really thrilled to have one of his best friends as his supervisor given the circumstances surrounding the promotion.
"I'll be there in a minute, I, uh…" Nick began blinking rapidly. "I'm just trying to get something out of my eye." As much as he was enjoying Sara's magical touch, he sure as hell hoped Warrick couldn't see her under his desk.
"Alright." Warrick looked at Nick oddly, but closed the door as he left, just shaking his head. "I think this supervisor thing is getting to him."
As soon as the door closed, Nick whimpered. "Sara, you're cruel."
"And you love it." She concluded with a smirk as she crawled out from underneath his desk.
Sophia regarded Greg with some trepidation. "What are you so upset about?" She knew that Grissom wasn't the reason that he was scowling at her.
"You slept with him to get back at me, didn't you?" Greg had an accusatory look on his face.
Sophia looked uncomfortable as she tried to rationalize her actions. "It just happened."
Greg looked hurt. "What about us? I thought we had something special."
Sophia reached for Greg's hand and gave it a squeeze. "We do have something special. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I was angry that you went out with Mia."
Greg snorted out a scoff. "I did not 'go out' with Mia. We had dinner."
"Well I had dinner with Grissom." Sophia countered.
Greg arched a brow at her. "Well my dinner with Mia didn't end up between the sheets."
Sophia let out a frustrated sigh and then looked over at Greg again. "There's something else that you should know."
Greg looked at her expectantly. "What?"
"I'm pregnant." Sophia studied Greg to measure his reaction.
Greg's eyes widened and then a smile broke out across his face. "I'm going to be a father?" He pulled Sophia into a hug and then just as quickly released her with a look of disdain on his face. "Or is Grissom going to be a father?"
Sophia suddenly looked ill. "I don't know."
"I think it's sort of ironic, don't you?" Mia commented to Warrick as she studied his profile. They had run into each other in the break room and were waiting for a pot of coffee to finish brewing.
Warrick let out a half-hearted laugh. "I guess so. World famous entomologist struck by VW Bug."
Mia looked at him with some concern. "You doing ok? You don't seem quite yourself lately."
Warrick didn't immediately respond. "It's complicated."
Mia rested her hip against the counter. "You mean about you and Catherine." As much as they had tried to keep it quiet, rumors had spread around the lab at lightning speed.
Warrick glanced over. "What did you hear?" He felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach.
Mia smirked in an effort to keep her smile at bay. "Greg told me that he walked in on you two. Sounded pretty kinky."
Warrick groaned and then chuckled. "Well, I guess there's no keeping that cat in the bag."
Mia edged a little closer to Warrick and looked at him with a sexy smile. "So, just how serious is this thing between you two?"
Warrick looked a little surprised, but immediately recognized the look on her face and reasoned that what Catherine didn't know Catherine didn't need to know. "Depends."
Mia arched both brows. "On what?" She was hopeful that he would pick up on her unspoken suggestion.
Warrick's tone was soft and sexy. "On you." She was an attractive woman and he had entertained a few fantasies about her.
Mia responded in a breathy tone. "I get off in a half hour."
"Or we could get off now." Warrick's looked at her suggestively. "Your place?"
"I'm glad you decided to see things my way, Catherine." Ecklie was out of breath. He had not had anyone give him that kind of run for his money in a long time. He had often thought about Catherine in a less than professional manner, but he had never been in the position until now to do something about it.
Catherine smirked as she buttoned the last button on her blouse. "So when can I expect a little payback?" She loathed Ecklie, but her ambitions were important enough to her to make a few sacrifices. She reasoned that giving Ecklie a little release now and then could only enhance her career track as long as he was her boss.
Ecklie grinned at her in a lecherous sort of way. "It's going to take at least a few weeks, and it would help if we could find something to pin on Stokes."
Catherine smoothed out her hair. "You just leave that to me." She knew Nick well and knew that he had a few weaknesses. She had seen the way he looked at Sara. Now if she could just get the two of them together and then get them to do something compromising at work, she was home free. That is if she could convince Sara that Nick was worth going after.
"Sara, it really isn't necessary." Nick let out a frustrated sigh. On the one hand, he was enjoying himself, but on the other, he wondered in the back of his mind just why Sara had become so attentive to him over the last few weeks when she'd never responded to his flirting before.
"But, Nick, it's the least I can do. I mean, you've been giving me great cases to work on and I'm sure it's only going to advance my career. Grissom wouldn't do that, he was always too concerned with whether I would take things the wrong way." Sara insisted. Nick was the only one, it seemed, who was on Ecklie's good side and she needed his help if she was ever going to become a shift supervisor.
"But I really don't need a back massage in the middle of shift." He grunted from where he was laying face down on the couch of his office, which had formerly been Grissom's.
"But you're so tense." Sara continued massaging his back through his shirt as she sat perched on his butt.
"That's because if someone walked in, we'd get suspended." Nick explained even though he was thoroughly enjoying the experience. He had fantasized more than a few times about this very scenario, although in his dream neither one of them had been dressed. And even though they'd already fully crossed that delicate line of friendship on a number of occasions, it had only happened once in the office and even then, they'd almost been caught.
"But you're the supervisor." Sara retorted as she kneaded his shoulders.
"So were Grissom and Catherine, and you can see what it did for them." Nick protested.
Sara let out a harrumph. "Fine, but we're not done. After shift we'll just finish this at my place." She leaned down and whispered in his ear. "And I'm pretty sure that clothing is optional."
Catherine had just left Ecklie's office and was heading off in search of Warrick when she saw him making his way out of the front doors of the lab looking awfully cozy with Mia. Quirking an eyebrow, she followed from a distance and when she got to the door she noticed them climb into the same vehicle. She narrowed her gaze and determined that Mia was not going to steal Warrick from her, and she would do whatever she had to, to keep that from happening.
"So you don't know who the father is?" Greg couldn't believe his ears.
Sophia shook her head sadly. "No, I don't." She bit her lower lip a bit nervously. "And as long as we're on the subject, there's one more possibility."
Greg's eyes widened at the thought that not only had she cheated on him, but with more than one man.
