Disclaimer: I don't own them, but I do own a CSI t-shirt.

Author's Notes: A little longer than usual, I had more time today to do some writing. I think this chapter is better than the last one, I spent the entire day (playing hookey from work) playing in the pool and having a crawfish boil with my brothers and sister, and after all was said and done, I enjoyed a wonderful evening with my daughter, and put her to bed just as the sun was going down on a wonderful, 83-degree, cloud-free day. If today could last forever...alas, I have to go back to work at -- groan -- 4:00 am. I guess I should really be going to bed, but I think I'll start working on the next chapter.

I may have left you with a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of this one.

Jenny

Five:

"Come on, get up!" Greg complained, standing over Sara's bed, shaking her shoulders roughly, "Get up! Get up! Get up!"

"Leave me alone!" Sara complained, pushing his arms away, "I'm sleeping."

Greg smirked, "You wouldn't be talking to me if you were sleeping."

"Smart ass." Sara snapped, pulling the comforter over her head, "I'm not ready to get up yet."

Greg sat next to her on the bed, pulling the covers from her face, "What time did you go to bed?"

"I don't remember." Sara mumbled, rolling over and burying her head into her pillow. It couldn't have been longer than four hours ago, and while four hours was usually just enough sleep for her, today she wasn't in the mood to do anything besides lay in bed, in the dark, and hate herself for what she had done.

On the other hand, Greg had insisted that they get out of the apartment. He had been staying with her for 4 days now, and while he was feeling much better and able to go home, he wasn't ready to leave Sara behind, not when she was still so upset over killing Jimmy Gardner, self defense or not. He couldn't blame her, he'd feel the same way, and, even though he'd probably bury himself in his room like she was doing, he would appreciate having someone to help him out of depression.

The first day had been great. She had fussed over him, making sure he ate enough, rested enough, drank enough. They had curled up on the couch together, watching a "Forensic Files" marathon, her choice, and enjoyed their customary comfort food. Somewhere in the middle of the night, they both fell asleep, Sara's head on one arm of the couch, her legs curled up in Greg's lap, and Greg's head leaning against her thigh while his legs slightly curled beneath him.

He had been pleasantly surprised to see she hadn't been embarrassed when they awoke the next morning, and instead thanked him for a good night's rest, she had suffered with nightmares during the few hours of sleep she had gotten before picking him up at the hospital. He had taken a shower while she cooked them breakfast, and they had shared a pleasant meal.

That's when things had started to go downhill. By noon, Sara had received 9 phone calls. 3 were from local media stations, wanting an interview on what had happened. 5 were heavy-breathing hang-ups. And the final call was from Ecklie, he had additional questions for Sara, and wanted to interview-which, in Ecklie's terms, meant fully interrogate- Greg.

They had gone down to the lab, and Ecklie had run both of them through the events of the night again, once separately, then once together, this time concentrating on the little details and the evidence they had collected to match or contradict their story. After having them mentally run around in circles, he let them go back to Sara's, without even a hint of what was going on in his investigation. Sure, he wasn't allowed to, they knew that, but neither had even been able to pick up on a positive or negative vibe from the man.

"It's not surprising," Greg had said, "We couldn't pick up on anything positive because he never is positive. We're damned if we do, damned if we don't. He's never happy. Don't worry about Ecklie, you did everything just like you were supposed to do. He was going to kill me, kill you, probably kill Cath and Nick too."

Sara hadn't been convinced. She had went straight into her bedroom after arriving home, coming out only to fix him something to eat, fuss at him to get some rest, and make sure he took his medication on time.

The next day hadn't been much better. While Ecklie didn't bother them anymore, the boredom of being at home was getting to both of them. They had watched movies, both not paying attention, Sara was beating herself up over the shooting while Greg worriedly watched her, and had called it a night early.

They hadn't been asleep for longer than an hour when Sara had an awful nightmare, waking both of them up (and probably several of her neighbors), and after he had calmed her down enough to where her tears had stopped, he knew she wasn't going to go back to sleep.

This morning, seeing her protesting form, he knew she probably hadn't for awhile. "Come on, we can go to the park. Or go shopping. Or walk on the Strip and laugh at the tourists who are staring at the buildings and glamour like they would a UFO. We can get some ice cream, go to a movie, go bowling--"

"Bowling?" Sara asked with a laugh, "I don't think so, Greg. I really don't feel like going anywhere."

Greg laid down next to her, propping his head on his elbow, "It makes me sad to know you're in here all alone, upset, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"I just...I don't know what to do. His funeral was today, I saw it in the paper. He's got friends and family who are going to grieve over him, who are going to miss him, who are going to feel so lonely knowing he's not in their lives anymore." Sara said with a heavy sigh, tears glistening in her eyes.

Greg pushed a strand of hair from her face, his thumb resting on her cheek, "Sara, you aren't looking at the whole picture. Think of the people he killed, think about what it would be like if Grissom, Catherine, Warrick, and Nick were at our funeral. Sara, we could have died! Don't--"

"Don't you think I know that!" Sara snapped, sitting up abruptly, her arm flying in the air with a sudden burst of anger, "Don't you think I know he could have killed us? He would have killed us? That he helped kill all of those people? That he was a criminal?" Her lip started to tremble and as Greg reached out for her, she pulled away, "Don't," she spoke softly, shaking her head, "It doesn't matter that he was all of those things, he still died because of me. Nothing you do or say will make me feel better about that. It's not worth even trying."

Greg reached out to her again, and this time she didn't refuse, instead she collapsed in his arms, sobbing loudly into his bare chest, her hands clinging to his back. As he gently held her, tears streaked down his own cheeks as he began to feel the pain she felt. Whispering soothing words to the top of her head, which was right beneath his chin, he tried to calm his nearly hysterical friend.

After several minutes, her sobs turned into hiccups, and eventually stopped completely, leaving the two friends holding each other, emotionally drained, yet oddly comforted. Worn out from the past few days, they slowly drifted back to sleep, the rest of the world forgotten.

Warrick opened one eye, seeing Catherine's bustling form sliding on a pair of slacks and a fresh silk shirt. "It's not even close to work time again."

"We're going out to eat with the group before shift, remember?" Catherine asked as she fastened an earring, "Nick mentioned it last night, we invited Sara and Greg?"

Warrick nodded sleepily, not wanting to get up, and wanting Catherine to rejoin him even more, "Tell them we forgot, just come back to bed, baby."

"I can't, Catherine replied in a pained voice, "I'd love to, believe me, but while you're getting up and ready, I've got to drive Lindsey over to her friend's house for a slumber party. It's her first one, you know, she's very excited."

"Ugh, slumber parties, Warrick moaned. "Why couldn't we all go out for breakfast before coming home last night?"

"For starters," Catherine said with a smile, "You had other things on your mind when we got here this morning. Then, there's the fact that we would have had to get Sara and Greg out of bed and on the road when they're both supposed to be resting. Besides, I'd still have to get Lindsey to her friend's house. Stop being a baby and get up."

Warrick patted the bed next to him, "Just for a few minutes?"

"I promise you, when we get off of work tonight, we'll stay in bed all day...and we'll do whatever you want." Catherine purred, leaning her and letting her lips trail across his chest and up to his face. "I'll even wear my black nightie."

Warrick's eyes widened and he moaned as Catherine kissed him passionately, disappointment on his face when she pulled away, "Oh, baby..."

"I've got to drop Lindsey off. We're meeting at the diner in an hour, please don't forget." Catherine said as she checked her appearance in the mirror, "Love you."

"Love you too." Warrick replied, stretching as he contemplated how long it would take him to shower. Deciding he had a few more minutes of rest, he set the alarm and rolled over, burying his face in Catherine's pillow. Even after she had gone, her pillow and blankets still smelled like her. He inhaled deeply, his thoughts of Catherine as he drifted back into a light sleep.

Sara and Greg walked into the diner, being spotted by Nick before they spotted anyone. He rushed up to them, giving Sara a huge hug, her feet coming slightly off the ground, and then a firm, manly hug to Greg, who seemed to be tense with sudden jealousy.

"It's only been a few days since you've seen us," Sara murmured, not liking to be the center of attention, "Not a few years, not a few decades, just a few days."

Nick smiled tenderly at her, "I know, but I've really missed you. The lab isn't the same without you guys. And we've all been worried...everyone's looking forward to having both of you back."

"I'm looking forward to going back." Sara relied, just as Greg said, "I could use another couple of days to rest."

Sara laughed, "No, just a few more days of popcorn and ice cream binges."

"That, too." Greg said as they walked to the booth everyone was seated in, "How's work?"

Nick shook his head, "We're still trying to nail the Bellagio case, we're having a hard time tracking down the gunmen, every lead turns out to be a dead one."

"The governor is upset, and we're all throwing in overtime, but I don't know if we'll be able to catch these guys. I don't remember ever being so stumped over a case." Warrick added, "It's crazy, nothing seems to fit, every time one thing goes right, 3 more go wrong."

"Sorry we're not able to help." Greg said softly, his hand moving to his head before he realized what he was doing. The spot where the gun had been held was still bruised a tender, and he flinched slightly as his fingers touched it.

Catherine gave his hand a reassuring squeeze, "Believe me, you're much better off resting anyway. At least your headache isn't stress-induced. We miss you, but we want you completely healed before you see your annoying little butt again."

"His butt isn't the annoying part." Nick teased, "It's that mouth he's always running."

Greg turned to Sara, his eyes wide, "Are you going to let them pick on me like that?"

"What do you think I'm going to do about it? Shoot them?" Sara shot back, her expression dark. The table fell silent.

The rest of the group exchanged worried glances while Greg kicked Sara's foot under the table, giving her a stern look, resulting in her lowering head gaze to the table. "Sorry." she muttered, closing her eyes for a few moments and trying to think of something to make the last comment sound a little better.

A few minutes passed, and she realized she couldn't think of anything to undo what she had just said. She wanted to kick herself in the butt for making the rest of the group uncomfortable, and was suddenly wondering if she should have even come at all. Maybe she and Greg should have just stayed in bed all day.

She felt someone squeeze her hand, and looking up, saw Nick's worried gaze, "Let's go outside and talk."

"I don't want to talk." Sara said, knowing she was being difficult, but not being able to stop her words.

Nick shrugged, then gave her a stern look, "I don't care, I do want to talk. Outside, now."

She allowed him to pull her to her feet and followed him out of the diner, where they sat on a wooden bench close to the door. Inside, the table had suddenly come alive.

"She's not okay, is she man?" Warrick asked, staring at Greg, "Has she been like this since you've been there?"

Greg shook his head, "The first day she was okay...she's been like this ever since Ecklie questioned us. And to make it worse, today was Gardner's funeral."

"You should have called me, I could have talked to her, woman to woman." Catherine said with a sigh. She looked over her shoulder where Nick and Sara were in an animated conversation, Sara's hands moving as she talked, anger evident in her features, "I knew she was going to take this hard, but she looks awful."

Greg nodded, his gaze drifting to Nick and Sara as well, trying to control the jealousy pumping through his veins, "She's just really stressed out, and when she's stressed, she works, and she's not able to right now. It's killing her, staying at home, she needs to be doing something, but she doesn't like to do anything."

"Hiking." Grissom said from the end of the table, where he had been watching the entire exchange in silence, "She enjoys hiking. When you're feeling better, before you come back to work, take a few days off and you two can go hiking. Make a weekend trip out of it, rent a cabin, swim in a river, pick a hard course and work it through."

Greg looked up at Grissom, surprise on his face. How did Grissom know what Sara liked? They hadn't gone on any hiking trips together, had they? Maybe in the past, before Sara moved to Vegas?

Grissom, as if sensing his questions, spoke softly, "She mentioned it once during a seminar. She says it's relaxing."

"Maybe that's what we need." Warrick whispered to Catherine as Greg and Grissom discussed different local hiking trails, "A weekend away. When Greg and Sara come back to work, we definitely need a weekend off together." He let his hand slide up her thigh, giving it a slight squeeze, "Me, you, the beach at sunset..."

A smile graced Catherine's lips and she snuggled closer to him, "Consider it a date."

The table fell silent again as Sara's loud voice made it's way into the diner, Nick's following seconds later. Turning to look at what was causing the commotion, the group found themselves witnessing what was coming very close to a fight between Sara and Nick, and a guy who they had never seen before.

Warrick and Grissom were up and moving towards the door before Catherine and Greg even had time to process what was going on. At the sight of a gun in the unknown man's jacket, however, Catherine quickly took out her phone to dial Brass.

-TBC-