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"No, Conrad, you're not rearranging my shift again," Grissom said sternly, "the only acceptable offer is putting the nightshift back together."

Grissom lightly tapped his glasses against his desk and quelled the urge to pound his fist against the desk. "You can't pull that with Sara," Grissom all but yelled, "you know Sara would quit if you tried to move her to dayshift. Her solve rate is too good for you to try to pull a stunt like that."

Getting another onslaught of words from Ecklie, Grissom tightened his grip on his glasses. "Ecklie, I don't have time to entertain your maniacal ideas. If you come up with something reasonable, you know where to find me," Grissom yelled and slammed the phone back in its cradle.

Feeling slightly better from his brief outburst, Grissom took a deep breath and tried to relax his pulse. Come on, Gil, you need to go hand out assignments. Confident that he had successfully calmed himself, Grissom picked up the assignment slips and walked out to the break room.

"Grissom, do you have anyone available now?" Catherine asked, walking into his office a couple of hours into his shift.

"I believe Sara just got back from a B&E," Grissom stated, setting a file down, "Why?"

"Swing's tapped out again. I'm leaving to go to a domestic disturbance, and I need someone to go to a convenience store robbery," Catherine explained hurriedly, anxious to get to her scene.

"You can take Sara. She's probably down in trace or in the break room."

Catherine got a better look at Grissom when he turned totally toward her. "Thanks," Catherine spoke, squinting her eyes at him, "Are you okay? You're pretty sweaty for sitting here in air-conditioning."

Grissom wiped a hand across his forehead and noticed that his fingers were covered in sweat. Looking up from his fingers, he realized that Catherine was waiting for a reply. "Yeah…yeah, I'm fine," Grissom stuttered, "Take Sara; go get your cases taken care of."

"Okay," Catherine said, giving him a quick smile and retreating from his office.

Getting the feeling that he should probably clean up a bit, Grissom got up from his chair and left his office.

Coming back from another robbery scene, Grissom walked slowly down the hallway toward his office, trying to conserve his energy. He had been fighting what he thought was indigestion, and he was short of breath from making the short trek into the building from the parking lot. I need a break. Unlocking his office door, Grissom entered his office, retrieved a bottle of water, and fell into his desk chair. Turning his back to the door, Grissom held his hand over his chest and tried to calm his breathing. You are so out of shape, Gil; look at what this job is doing to you. It's amazing you can keep up with Sara. Leaning back in his chair, Grissom tried to relax.
"Grissom, I need your input on this case," Catherine stated, stepping into his office.

Grissom was slightly startled by Catherine's voice, for his mind had wandered. He turned his chair back toward the door and looked up at Catherine. "Why are you still here?" Grissom asked.

"I'm putting some overtime in on my case. Turned out the domestic disturbance was a possible homicide," Catherine explained, "I have some things that I want you to look at under the scope."

"Alright," Grissom spoke, pushing himself up from his desk and leaning on it as he walked around it.

Catherine turned her back to Grissom and started back out the door. Grissom felt his chest get tighter, and he had to fight to pull in another breath. Before he could call out to Catherine to alert her to his difficulty, he dropped to the floor, taking his file folder inbox with him.