Precious Things by SLynn

Spoilers: Up to 'Nesting Dolls'

Rating: R for violence and disturbing content.

Disclaimer: Not mine – well, some are mine, just not the ones you recognize.

Thanks and the like at the bottom!

Chapter 24: Three

By the time Greg and Warrick got back from the scene their scheduled shift was just beginning and Greg had calmed down considerably. Maybe it was just working with Warrick, who by definition was laid back or just getting out and feeling useful. Or maybe he really was just over it. No matter what the cause, by the time Grissom began to hand out assignments for the night Greg was joking and laughing again like normal.

There were only two cases and since Warrick and Greg had just gotten back from one he sent Catherine to a robbery in Summerlin while he sent Sara and Nick off to another homicide just near the strip.

As the meeting broke up Grissom asked for a word with Sara and Greg in his office. Nick told Sara he'd wait for her in DNA and they both headed down the corridor in silence.

Greg held the door open for Sara earning the first real smile he'd seen from her all day and shut it behind them after they were both inside.

Grissom looked up from the file he was reading and motioned them both to the chairs with his eyes. After they sat he aside his reading and sighed.

"Ecklie came to visit me," was how he started and they both sunk a little in their seats. "He wanted to know if the two of you always had such loud lovers' quarrels inside the crime lab."

"It was about a case," Sara clarified, her voice tight.

"It doesn't matter," Grissom said looking at her directly.

"Yes it does," Sara countered.

"It's about perception."

"Grissom," Greg said, "Sara and I really were talking about a case. Probably no louder then anyone else around here does."

"Doesn't matter," Grissom said shaking his head, "because it's the two of you it's seen differently. I know that's not fair, but it's true."

The both seemed to accept it and nodded their heads, even if they didn't agree with it.

"Now," Grissom continued, "he said that if the two of you can't work together on the same shift, he could fix the problem. Understand?"

"Yeah," Sara said with a nod.

"Yes sir," Greg returned as well.

"I shouldn't have to say this but I will. Conrad Ecklie does not like either of you. Neither of you need to be giving him excuses to write you up. Greg, he can't dismiss you for the medication, Dr. Jennings made sure of that, but that doesn't mean he won't look for another way."

"Got it," Greg said nodding now for himself. He'd half been expecting some type of retaliation for that incident.

"And Sara," Grissom continued, "after your suspension last year…"

"Don't worry," Sara said cutting him off, ignoring the subtle glance Greg gave her, "I know."

"Okay then," Grissom said to them both now, "I don't want to have this conversation again."

"We won't," Sara said standing to go, Greg right behind her.

As soon as they were out the door, Greg caught her by the elbow.

"When were you suspended?" he asked, not bothering to lower his voice or hide his shock.

"Now is not the time," Sara said pulling away from him and continuing on to the DNA lab.

"Well when is?" he asked, lowering his voice now in consideration.

Sara stopped and looked away, purposely avoiding his eyes. It wasn't like she'd been trying to hide the suspension from him, it had honestly never came up.

"When Nick and I get back we'll take our break together," she finally said.

"Okay," he returned tightly.

Greg didn't say goodbye, he was too angry to talk further. Instead he just headed around her and down the hall to the lay out room where their findings from the dumpster were still on the table.

Nick, and Sara he assumed, had made a lot of progress but there was a lot left to be done. They'd gotten lucky that the trash had not yet picked up and as Greg had guessed she was a neat freak. Well that or she had something to hide. There had been a total of four full disposable vacuum bags to shift through and it looks like they'd gotten through two of them already. Just going into the room was enough to make him sneeze; the air was thick with dust. Donning a mask Greg started in on the rest.

An hour into it and Amy tapped on the door once to get his attention.

"Busy?"

"Yeah," Greg answered looking up, "but I could use a break."

The mask was keeping out most of the dust but his eyes were killing him. Not for the first time did he find himself mentally cursing his allergies.

Amy just motioned down the hall with her head before turning herself. Stripping off the mask and gloves Greg followed.

Once in the break room Greg washed his hands several times in the sink before washing his face briefly. His chest felt a little tight but he knew from experience it was nothing significant.

"How's that going?" Amy asked, pouring two cups of coffee.

"Slow," he admitted.

"Well," she said handing him one of the cups before sitting down just opposite him at the table, "do you want some news?"

"Depends," he said taking a sip and wincing, "is it good or bad?"

"Not sure. Nick and Sara dropped off some samples earlier from your dumpster dive. Several hairs."

"Feline?"

"Yeah and they matched."

"Good," Greg said feeling a bit of relief thinking maybe he didn't have to go dig back through the rest of that trash and further endanger his health.

"There's more," Amy said and the way she did made him pause briefly.

"What?"

"They asked me to run all the hair, which is standard, and all of it came back pretty much as expected. Female, matching Anne Blanchard's. They got a sample from her the other day."

Greg nodded and still didn't like the way Amy was looking at him. Scratch that, the way Amy wasn't looking at him.

"Well, I looked back through the file and found that we already had her sample."

"What?" Greg asked, "From the previous case?"

"Yeah," Amy nodded, "It was taken by swing shift three years ago when they had the case and you ran it."

Greg hesitated momentarily. Although it wasn't uncommon for his name to be on any of the DNA samples from the lab, he thought he'd of remembered it. Then again it was three years ago.

"Okay, but…"

"Greg," she said cutting him off, "I compared our male suspect, the one who raped Anne Blanchard and killed those girls, I don't know why I did, but I compared his DNA to hers. And there are seven markers in common."

"Wait, how is that…"

"Like I said," she continued, "I don't know why I compared them."

Greg stood up now and paced the room.

"So this is her brother?"

"Probably."

Amy saw his agitation. It wasn't hard to miss. And she knew exactly why he was so worked up. Amy had just found out herself but wanted Greg to know first knowing he'd need the time to let it sink in. That he'd need the time to cool down before continuing.

"I missed this," he said coming back over but not sitting down.

"Greg, there was no reason to run it then. She had to have known who it was that attacked her and probably went out of her way to make everyone think otherwise."

"Still," Greg said shaking his head, "you ran it. Why didn't I? This whole thing…"

"Don't," Amy said her voice sharp, "Don't. Greg, just because you didn't run some test doesn't mean any of this is your fault."

"I've got to step outside," Greg said moving for the door. "I'm not allowed to be loud indoors anymore."

Amy followed him up to the roof really worried. For several minutes he said nothing, just paced. It was unnerving but she stayed. She didn't think leaving him alone now would be very wise.

"Why didn't I run that test?" he asked again, really to himself.

He knew why.

Three years ago. Three years ago and he'd likely still be recovering from the explosion. Maybe not physically but mentally. Greg had gone through a pretty bad depression, even if he was reluctant to admit it, and he'd gotten a little lax in his work. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just had found it harder to care as much as usual. It was a time he could clearly remember what a struggle it was just to go to work. He'd been desperate to get out in the field, to have any change in his life, any but had really nothing going for him.

Amy just watched. What could she say? Anything she could say would sound patronizing whether intended or not so she just held her tongue.

After several more minutes of pacing and head shaking he seemed calmer.

"Have you told anyone else?" he asked now, sounding nearer to normal but it was all still there behind his eyes.

"No," Amy answered shaking her head, "I knew you'd want to know first."

Greg nodded and then thanked her.

"I've got to tell Grissom," he said after another full minute of silence. "Can I have the report?"

"Yeah," Amy agreed, "its back at the lab. Do you want me to wait until you're done to tell Nick?"

"No, I'll tell him too."

"I can do that. Really."

"No, I need too," Greg said thankful but not willing to let her try and soften it. "This is my mess…"

"Greg, it really isn't…"

"No," he finished quickly, "it is. You ran that comparison because you do thorough work. I didn't. If I had we'd have gotten this guy three years ago."

"You don't know that. We just have seven markers. That's not a name. That's not a face."

"We'd of gotten him," Greg said shaking his head, not believing what she said.

Amy sighed and shook her head. He was never going to see it her way. She could only hope now that someone else would make him. That Grissom wouldn't be too tough or that Sara would understand.

Someone had too.


A/N: First off, a moment of clarification. My time line differs from the norm. 'Happy Enough', the first in this series, started about a year an a half from the point we are at now. A year an a half before that, I estimate in the lab explosion. While I'm using some of the more current stories (Nesting Dolls) for background, the events in them didn't exactly take place the same way. More of that in future chapters. If you don't really care about consistency (although I do and try) just feel free to take whatever I say at face value then. :)

And wow, I kept saying I would comment and haven't for like thirteen chapters… so sorry. I do appreciate it… really!

Duckie (A Bloom) – Thanks so much for all of your reviews. I love that you reviewed all the chapters you missed, thanks again! Please keep telling me what you like, or don't, it helps me keep going! re: shower – don't we all? re: sisters – I have one, she's the wild child and I was the good one. :)

white rose01 – Hodges is my new favorite. I find when I start to like a character and can't write a fic for them, I just add more of them to my current ones. There will probably be more Amy and Greg interaction in the next (and yes, I've already got that one drawn up… it's like a sickness). hmm… wonders if white rose01 is reading my emails to tripp3235… more fights huh? Sounds plausible. You sound like me, re: angst. I'm a complete angst monkey. I like the fluff, but I love angst. I'm getting to predictable… the last reviews I've read have all said the same thing.. the big calm before the storm… mental note: change that! yeah, the guidance counselor, I'm not done with her yet.

Melo – Thanks for the review! It's great that you've read them all, that means a lot to me! I'm very sorry for your loss and glad that you find that the emotions are real. My grandfather and uncle both passed away from cancer several years ago and it was a very difficult time. Keeping the emotions real is very important to me in this story. As for turning the tables, which everyone here seems ready for, I can assure you it will happen in one form or another but possibly not until the next story. Thanks again!

Trish – Greg/Sara shippers unite! We need a catchy phrase for us as we seem to grow daily. :) I love Greg and Hodges interacting, wish we saw more of it on the show.

BeyondMyStar – re: marriage. I had mentioned previously that someone was getting married by the end of this story and she wondered if it was Greg/Sara or Amy's sister Jennifer. I didn't give it away but we can now assume it isn't Greg and Sara, at least not at the rate I'm going with them. As for the rest, I don't plan on having Greg's cancer return. I've said things like this before and then written the exact opposite, so I try not to say never, but right now it isn't going to happen. Pregnancy, I'm still mulling over. You're my only Betty hold out, you know that? LOL – Betty is just, well, Betty. I can't describe or explain her. She's a mixture of a lot of nosey people I know who mean well but … well, are just Betty's. their fight (Greg/Sara) not good and getting worse.

Miss-Andromache – believe it or not I am still working out a just Nick/Amy story that will probably take place in the gap between this one and the next.

Emmithar – I can't even give Greg a break on his birthday, sad isn't it? Grilled cheese is my favorite and I had to throw it in there. :) Greg has no resolve when it comes to Sara! And I'm still working on 'The Search' , trying to finish them both at once so that I can start right in on the next. I had to have Amy find out about the explosion, and I find it odd that they never bring it up on the show. If I was working there and found out the place and actually exploded… I might have to quit! seriously, I have to change my writing formula… everyone is on to me! and now I'm sad! Never my intention for anyone to dislike Sara. I actually like her. Greg is forgetting that he didn't exactly want to tell her everything he did, but was almost forced into it himself. in case I haven't said it, I'm a horrible reviewer myself but have been reading your stories as well, which I love:) And I like Warrick, I don't write enough Warrick.

Tripp3235THANKS AGAIN FOR THE HELP! And, I don't know what to tell you here but that… I think you know more about this story then I do right now! I think between email and LJ we've talked them to death!

Fwe – It's true, I don't write fluff well. It all gets ominous in my stories at about the halfway mark. this is the part of the story where the dum-dum-dummmm music kicks in.

chrissy8 – thanks for reading and for the encouragement! Hope you like this one as much as the rest!

avalon88 – thanks for the support!

Kelly – I like the character chapters better myself. And I'm slowly working in Sara's history. Unfortunately, I don't know how accurate it will be based on the show… they've given us so little to go on which is good and bad. I'm pretty predictable like that, everyone knows if I have more then two chapters of fluff bad things are bound to happen!

veryevil (Emma) – If I didn't add some fluff the story would just be too dark! I had a burst of Archie love and had to get him into the story! Plus, he fit. And I thought it was time to add some Greg/Sara interaction at work… I couldn't imagine working with someone I was involved with. That would be stressful.

Grrlnorth – What makes you say that:evil grin: And thank you, I've probably done more work on this case then any other, excluding the next. when you wrote the in sync line review I actually cringed because I had already started the next chapter and knew it was temporary! Sorry. I like them better that way too, but they haven't had a chance (or taken one) to really stop and talk about their problems. And yes, I'm brewing up one massive back story for Sara. BTW – nice to see you again!

Jewelbaby – Thanks for the review! Hope you like this one!