Disclaimer: I down own CSI or anything affiliated with it. If I did, it would have to be a cable show, because there would be a lot more nudity of certain males...hehe...

Author's Notes: This is a short chapter, something I wanted to push out of the way, because I will (sadly) be away from the computer until Friday. My parents are in town and are insisting that my brothers, sister, and I constantly hang out until they leave Thursday night. My brother and I were quick to remind them that Thursday was CSI (literally, at the same time we both practically yelled it) and that we could to family things as long as it was at my brother's house, watching CSI and eating pizza, which has been our CSI ritual since day one (except he always stops eating his pizza, and I usually am chewing while pointing to the body parts and blood and stuff going 'This is so cool!')

And as a side note...I am such a country girl, and I never realized it until today. I actually begged my brother to let me drive his new tractor around his property today when I went to pick up my daughter from my sister-in-law. And it actually excited me to do 20 miles an hour on it on his property, and I actually asked him to let me go for another spin. I was horrified when I realized how much I actually do belong in the South.

Jenny

Eight:

The moment Grissom walked into the break room, he could feel the tension in the air. He briefly considered turning away and heading back to his office before he was spotted, where he could call Catherine on her cell and have her hand out performance reviews and assignment slips. Unfortunately, the thought process took too long to cycle and before he could slip out unnoticed, Nick met his eye.

Turning to Catherine and Warrick, who were curled up together on the sofa, talking quietly to each other, Nick snapped, "Lovebirds? Grissom's here, let's get this over with."

Grissom resisted the urge to tell Nick to watch his tone, which was definitely sarcastic and bitter, knowing that if he said something, it would probably anger Nick more. They were all going through a hard time, and he knew Nick didn't need the stress of Sara's situation on top of his already full platter with his sister, but he couldn't let him take it out on everyone else.

Instead, he pulled out a chair and sat down, "Catherine? Warrick? Join us at the table, please." He watched as Nick glared at the couple, who were positively glowing about something, and felt a stab of sympathy for the younger man. It must be so hard to watch two people so happy, even during a depressing time, and not even be able to summon up a tenth of the joy they are radiating. He, actually, knew how hard it was, he had spent a great deal of his life feeling the same way.

Greg sat across from Nick, his feet pulled up onto the chair, to where his knees were pushed up against the table, his body in a tight ball. He looked awful. His face was pale, despite the dark pink sunburn covering his face and arms, and dark circles were visible beneath his eyes. He hadn't spoken, or made eye contact, since Grissom walked in the room, and Grissom had to once again resist making a comment, this time to ask if Greg was okay. It would be a stupid question, it was obvious that he wasn't.

The moodiness that clouded the table was greatly contradicted by the sunshine over the couch, where Catherine and Warrick had been perched. Sure, they had bags under their eyes that were large enough to hold three weeks worth of luggage, but despite the obvious frustration and fatigue they all felt, they had plastered huge smiles on both of their faces. Grissomw as very curious as to what had brought this on, because at the hospital, just hours earlier, both had been tense and quiet.

He waited for everyone to get comfortable before beginning, "The Sheriff has some new policies he wants to implement, as well as an updated budget. Unfortunately, this means we will be cutting a few CSIs and shuffling some people around."

He paused, waiting to see if there would be a reaction from the group. Greg let out a sigh, still not meeting anyone's gaze, his unblinking eyes fixated on the wall ahead of him. Catherine and Warrick still had goofy grins pasted on their faces, as though they didn't understand the implications of his statement. The only one who really did anything was Nick, who let his hand fall to the table with a loud thud, "Which one of us are you going to fire?"

Grissom shook his head, "It's not definite that we will lose any of you. We are cutting three CSIs, but they do not necessarily have to come as one from each shift. It is possible that two will come from days, one from swing, or that all three may come from a different shift."

"Or that all three may come from us." Nick said angrily, "Haven't we all been through enough? Why cut people? Why not just pass over raises this year? We did evaluations less than a month ago, why couldn't they just not give anyone a raise and use that money to pay the others' salary?"

Grissom sighed, "Nicky, calm down. I don't make the rules and I can not change them. I can tell you, however, that you guys are a wonderful group of CSIs. The solve rates among this shift are the highest in the lab, higher than most labs. You are all bright, qualified, experienced workers, and I'm going to fight hard to keep all of you. In order to do that, I need to do some spring cleaning with your personnel files, and show the other supervisors, as well as the lab director and the sheriff, that we are all willing to correct our mistakes, even when we don't feel they are mistakes."

"What kind of mistakes?" Catherine asked, worriedly looking towards Warrick, who had taken her hand into his own, "What are we looking at here, Gil?"

Grissom handed them each a slip of paper, sighing and rubbing his temples, "We've had a lot of major incidents in the last 2 years. None were really preventable, but even so, it is making the whole shift look bad. Catherine, you and Sara were involved in a serious car accident last year which resulted in a large amount of time out of work, with pay. Thankfully, both of you recovered nicely, and we all know it wasn't something you two could control. However, I am going to assign you to a defensive driving class offered by the LVMPD for it's officers. As soon as Sara is up to it, she will attend as well."

"Defensive driving? I'm not sixteen, Grissom." Catherine said angrily, "It wasn't my bad driving skills, we hydroplaned in the pouring down rain! I didn't drive unsafely, I didn't neglect something important, I just was in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

Grissom held up his hand calmly, "Catherine, calm down. This isn't coming from me, we need to show everyone that we own up for any mistakes we make, accidental or not, and the more we dot our i's and cross our t's, the more likely it is that you all will still be employed at the end of this month. You, especially, need to prove your dedication to the job, no matter what it takes."

"Why's that?" Warrick asked nervously. Did Grissom know about the baby? How could he? His worried eyes met Catherine's, and he squeezed her hand gently, the same questions flowing through each of their minds in a quick rush.

Grissom motioned to their hands, which were tightly clasped together, "While dating your coworkers isn't against the rules, it is frowned upon by the higher authorities. I wouldn't put it past, actually, I expect Ecklie to bring up your living arrangements in the group meeting we have next Friday. I just want to make sure Catherine shines, not everyone gets to work with her like we do, and none of us want to lose her."

"Um..." Catherine said softly, her face flushing with embarrassment, pulling her hand from Warrick's grasp and holding it out for Grissom to see, "I guess this would be a good time to inform you that we're getting married, right?"

Nick's eyebrows shot up, his foul mood forgotten as he rushed to give them both a hug, patting Warrick on the back, "Way to go, man! Congratulations!"

Grissom smiled, reaching out to embrace Catherine as well, "I'm happy for you, you deserve someone who's going to treat you well."

"Thank you." Catherine murmured, her lips near his ear as she whispered the next part, "Gil, I'm pregnant."

Grissom pulled away, his eyes wide, opening his mouth to talk, but closing it after seeing Catherine's pleading look. "How long?"

"I'm not sure, I need to go to the doctor to find out." Catherine whispered, "I had to be honest with you, I wasn't planning on telling anyone yet, but now...well, I didn't want you to be blindsighted."

"Thank you." Grissom replied, taking a seat as the excitement of Nick and Warrick began to die down. He noted with sadness and disappointment that Greg hadn't budged during the commotion. He tapped his pencil against the table, "Greg, you're the newest one, and the only one who has a spot waiting for him if you're removed from field work, that makes you more vulnerable than everyone else. You were very good in the lab, just as you are in the field, so they will almost certainly consider which position to place you. You were also involved in an incident several months back where a suspect was killed. You and Sara will retrain in the safety policies of the lab, as well as the rules and regulations for law enforcement under this jurisdiction."

Grissom waited for a response from Greg, but only earned a brief glace, so he continued, "We all have skeletons in our closet, for some it is harder to hide theirs, while others go unnoticed until being forced to reveal. Hopefully, there will be no surprises at this meeting. Each of you will retake the proficiency exam, each will be scheduled for a minimum of three forensics conferences and seminars that will take place over the remainder of the year. I know this sounds really bad, but I don't want to lose any of you and we need to do the best we can to make sure none of you are deemed replaceable, because I know none of you are."

"Grissom, this really stinks." Nick muttered, his gloomy mood returning rapidly as the shock of Warrick's engagement wore off. "I don't want to think of any of us leaving."

"You know it's going to be Sara, don't you Grissom?" Greg said, his voice sounding nothing like his normal cheery tone, it's raspy hoarseness giving away the fact that he had been crying all afternoon, "She's had too many 'incidents' and she's going to be considered the biggest liability. Of course, you may not have to worry about her because she may be dead before you have to choose anyway."

Fresh tears in his eyes, he pushed his chair away from the table and stormed out of the room, leaving the rest in a uneasy silence. After a few seconds, Nick stood as well, "I'm going to go check on him."

Catherine looked down at the table, tears forming in her eyes, "He's right, you know. She's had a rough year, the accident, the shooting, and now this? They aren't going to consider her solve rate or attendance rate or anything after looking at that. They probably won't even research enough to see that she wasn't at fault for anything that has happened to her. She's going to be crushed, Gil, if she loses her job. Her job is her life."

"I know that, Catherine." Grissom replied, staring down at the paper in front of him. He had been pushing that very thought from his mind since he started reviewing their files. He couldn't stand the thought of losing Sara just as much as anyone else on the team. He shook his head, rubbing his temples again as he felt a migraine start up, "They're seeing each other, aren't they?"

Catherine's eyes immediately shot down towards the table, as Warrick looked at Grissom with a questioning expression, "Who?"

"Yes." Catherine sighed, "Greg and Sara had been together about six months or so. They were taking their relationship slow, and were working very hard not to let it interfere with work. There's no reason for it to get out, though. They aren't telling people, they are keeping it a secret."

Grissom sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Everyone's going to know, it's written all over Greg's face every time her name is mentioned. We're all trained CSIs, Cath, we are trained to pick up on this sort of detail. I should have known...this isn't going to look good if it gets out."

"I know." Catherine said softly, her heart heavy as she realized how much trouble this budget cut was going to cause. "You aren't going to tell anyone I'm pregnant, are you?"

Grissom shook his head, "Not until this all blows over. Just like I'm not going to mention Greg and Sara's relationship. I want this to be focused on work performance only, it's unfair to all of you to bring personal conflicts in as well."

"Ecklie fights dirty." Warrick sighed, wrapping an arm around Catherine and allowing her to rest her head against his shoulder, "We all know that."

Grissom sighed, pushing his papers away, "We shouldn't have to be doing this right now, we're too tired, too stressed out, too worried. You two sign your papers, saying we've talked, and head out to Henderson, we've got a B&E. I'll go talk with Greg."

"Go easy on the kid, alright?" Warrick said as he scribbled his name on the form Grissom had slid towards him, "He can't help who he loves, and he's in pretty bad shape. You know how hard it is for us to think about Sara right now, and he's got to feel 100 times worse."

Grissom nodded, placing their papers back into their folders and wishing them luck on their case. Taking a deep breath and hoping for the best, Grissom left the break room and went to look for Nick and Greg.

Greg laid his head against the sheets of Sara's hospital bed, her hand clasped in his, fatigue preventing him from doing much more than stare at her. His head was throbbing, and he could feel his body trembling slightly. He knew he needed rest, he knew he needed to go somewhere quiet to think and sort out everything that was going on, but he couldn't bring himself to leave.

The thought of how Sara would feel if she got fired was too much for Greg to handle, it brought tears to his eyes every time he contemplated it. She had been through hell for the last year and half, it would be so unfair to deal her another blow so soon.

Of course, that was assuming they'd have a chance to fire her. After all, it had been two days and she hadn't come around yet. He had been sitting next to her, his eyes focused on her sleeping face for two entire days, although his body longed for sleep, his muscles ached from lack of use, and his head throbbed hard enough to nearly render him unconscious.

He had gotten over his initial hesitation to visit after talking to Grissom, who had encouraged him to go and see her, telling him that if she loved Greg as much as he loved her, she'd want his face to be the first thing she saw when her eyes opened. It only took that little nudge from Grissom to push away the guilt and apprehension he felt at the idea of seeing her in a hospital bed with tubes and machines hooked up to her, and Greg hadn't left her side since.

He lifted his head slightly, letting it fall to the bed again as he was riddled with dizziness and nausea. He glanced at his watch, realizing for the first time that he hadn't eaten anything since he started dinner the night of the accident. Sure, Catherine and Warrick had offered him a meal when they came to visit Sara, but Greg had refused to leave her side, and outside food wasn't allowed in the ICU rooms.

He decided Sara was more important than food, anyway, and made no move to get up and walk towards the cafeteria. 15 minutes later, however, he was relieved that he hadn't left.

He had let his eyes close for a second, almost falling into the darkness of sleep, but jumped to his feet as the machines in the room started to go haywire, beeping loudly with alarms wailing. Before he knew what was going on, he was ushered out of the room by a team of doctors and nurses, sinking to his knees in the hallway as gave in to tears once again, his body unable to hold him up any longer.

TBC