Previously on 'As The Lab Turns'

She slid her arms around his neck and tried to relax. "How much does your promotion mean to you?"

Nick was really confused because the conversation was not going the direction he thought it was. "Not as much as you mean to me." He meant what he said, but he also thought that this was what she was hoping to hear.

Sara nibbled at her lip again and then whispered very softly as she looked into his eyes. "I think we should elope."


"Are you sure this is what you want?" Nick looked at Sara intently as she stood there next to him in her jeans and gauzy blouse that she'd been wearing at his house.

"Don't you want this?" The idea that he was having second thoughts about eloping with her was a bit unsettling.

"That's not what I meant, Sara." Nick smiled at her reassuringly. "I want to marry you, I just would have thought you'd want something a bit more formal for a wedding."

She shook her head and smiled, amused at the fact that they were both more comfortable in jeans than all dressed up. "All I need for a wedding is you."


Warrick looked sullen and his heart was very heavy as he walked up to Catherine's front door and knocked. He knew he needed to tell her what had happened with Mia and he wasn't looking forward to it. When she didn't answer, he furrowed his brow and whipped out his cell phone.
"Did you get a hold of Nick and Sara?" Grissom looked at Catherine quizzically.

"Neither one of them are answering their cell phones." She replied just as her cell phone went off. "Maybe this is them." She pulled the phone off of her belt and flipped it open. "Willows." A smile came unbidden to her face. "Hey, Warrick."

Grissom rolled his eyes slightly. It wasn't that he begrudged Catherine or Warrick a little happiness, what he did begrudge was the fact that they'd used the lab for their indiscretion.

"I'm at the hospital." She shook her head. "No, Grissom's fine, in fact he's going to be released in a few days, the doctors think his injuries weren't as serious as they first thought." Catherine was silent for a moment. "No, actually I came down here because Ecklie's in the ICU."


"Did she say how it happened?" Sara looked at Nick with a worried expression. She had no regrets about eloping, but she wasn't exactly looking forward to all of the repercussions that would come as a result.

Nick shook his head as he drove. "No, she just said that he had an aneurysm and they didn't expect him to live. Brass has been put in charge for the time being."

"So why exactly are we going to the hospital then?" Sara wasn't thrilled about spending the rest of their day off with the rest of the CSIs, since the day was supposed to function as their honeymoon since they'd spontaneously eloped.

"Brass wants to talk to all of us and since Grissom won't be discharged for a few more days, he wanted to do it there." Nick shrugged his shoulders.


Catherine could tell that something was bothering Warrick the moment he walked into Grissom's hospital room. She immediately came up with a reason for them to leave the room so they could talk. "Nick and Sara are on their way, why don't we go get everyone some coffee." She shot Brass and Grissom a look to squelch any protest.

Greg didn't even register that she was talking, he had been sitting in the corner of the room lost in thought at whether it was Sophia or Heather that he'd 'dated'.

Catherine threaded her arm through Warrick's and headed towards the hospital coffee shop.


"We're going to get in trouble, aren't we?" Sara nibbled her lower lip.

Nick smirked at her. "I don't give a flying leap in hell, Sara. I'm in love with you and if we get suspended for getting married, then at least we have time to have a honeymoon."

"But your promotion." She sounded disappointed for him.

"I don't care about the promotion; I care about you. Besides, I prefer field work to paperwork any day." He smiled at her and reached over and squeezed her hand.


"So are you going to tell me what's bothering you or do I have to drag it out of you?" Catherine had a sultry smile on her face, inferring exactly how she intended to drag it out of him.

Warrick took a deep breath and just cut to the chase. "I slept with Mia."

Catherine's eyes went wide in disbelief, but then she also felt relief that maybe he'd take what she'd done with Ecklie with a grain of salt. "Mia."

"Twice." Warrick had a remorseful expression on his face. "I don't know what I was thinking, actually, I don't think I was thinking." He studied her face to measure her reaction.

"Twice?" Catherine had been suspicious that whatever had gone on between Warrick and Mia wasn't perfectly innocent, but she hadn't realized that it had happened more than once.

"But I'm not in love with her, Cath. I'm in love with you." Warrick's eyes pleaded with her to forgive him.

Catherine really wanted to unload on him with both barrels, but she realized that she needed to remain calm, especially since she decided she was going to come clean too. "I guess as long as we're confessing."

Warrick's eyes widened. "Cath?"

She just got to the point. "I gave Ecklie some 'favors' in return for a promise to give me my promotion back."

Warrick's voice squeaked out in shock. "Ecklie?"


"When did you tell him that we'd be here?" Sara mumbled against Nick's lips.

"Soon." He was intent on getting a few good kisses in before they had to go in for this impromptu meeting.

"How soon?" Sara thought that she could just about live on Nick's kisses.

"Pretty soon." Nick pulled her closer as he leaned back against his Denali. They'd barely made it out of the SUV before their lips had found each other.


Warrick had to take a seat as he looked at Catherine in disbelief. "Ecklie."

She nodded a bit nervously. "He said it was the only way I'd get my job back and at the time it seemed like a good idea."

"But Ecklie." Warrick looked sickened. "At least Mia is good looking."

Catherine crossed her arms over her chest and stared Warrick down. "I never actually had sex with the man if that's what you're worried about."

Warrick quirked an eyebrow. "Then what did you do?"

Catherine looked a little squeamish. "Just about everything else."


The fact that Nick and Sara sauntered into Grissom's hospital room with their fingers laced together and a giant rock of a diamond adorning Sara's left ring finger did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room.

Brass let out a chuckle. "Is there anyone on this team that hasn't broken a regulation in the employee handbook?"

"When did this happen?" Greg looked shocked. He knew that they were friends, but he had no idea that things had obviously gone well past that.

Nick decided to just get everything out on the table and take whatever disciplinary action was coming his way. "It's been going on for a while." He looked right at Brass. "I completely understand if this means that I'll be demoted, and if you need to suspend us, we understand."


"So you think that just because I slept with Mia, I should forget about Ecklie." Warrick was trying to mull the whole situation over in his mind.

Catherine lowered her voice and whispered. "Warrick, the man had an aneurysm because I sat on his lap and unbuttoned my blouse."

"Does Brass know that?" Warrick queried her.

She shook her head. "I buttoned up before I called 9-1-1."

Warrick looked at her for a long moment. "I still can't believe you'd let Ecklie talk you into something like that." He paused. "But I love you."

"And I love you." Catherine stepped towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "And if you so much as ever think about sleeping with Mia again, I'll castrate you myself."

Warrick let out a deep throaty chuckle and slid his arms around her waist. "Deal."


"You're kidding?" Sara looked incredulous at what Brass had just told her and Nick.

The homicide detective shook his head. "I wish I was kidding. Ecklie got Heather to impersonate Sophia after he'd gotten her pregnant. Apparently she had a vendetta out for Grissom and when Ecklie found out about it, he decided to use that to his advantage. Sophia is actually on a personal leave visiting her family in Australia and she knew nothing about all of this."

"So Ecklie is the father of her child, not Grissom." Nick clarified.

"Or me." Greg piped up to the shock of everyone in the room.

Grissom looked ill. "You slept with her?"

"Define her?" Greg looked sick himself. "I'm not sure which one of them it was."


When Warrick and Catherine finally returned to Grissom's hospital room, there was a myriad of expression on everyone's faces.

"What?" Catherine cut to the chase.

Brass had a sardonic smirk on his face. "Oh, where do I begin?"

Tune in next time for another episode of 'As The Lab Turns'…