Appreciation by SLynn
Summary: An art heist, an arsonist and a lot of angst. Takes place approximately four months after the end of 'Precious Things' This is the fifth in a series. Greg/Sara and Nick/OC
Spoilers: Up to 'Nesting Dolls'
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing and will return them all when I'm done, virtually untouched.
Notes: Thanks again and again RivenSky and Tripp3235 for all your help! I'll be thanking everyone soon:)
Chapter 5: Unlikely
"We have a problem."
Grissom leaned against his desk and looked at Nick, Sara and Greg who were each standing before him.
"Greg," he said with a slight nod in his way, "has asked me to remove him from the Bellagio case."
No one said anything but it was only a surprise to Nick.
"Normally I would just have him assist on another case but this bomb scare has been pushed to our top priority and I can't afford to lose the manpower."
Nick nodded and knew where this was going.
"Sara, Nick," Grissom said turning to them directly, "I need one of you to switch out with Greg."
"I will," Sara said before Nick got the chance.
"Wait a minute," Nick argued turning to her, "Sara, you're the primary on the arson case. You've done almost all the leg work."
Sara said nothing to that just looked down.
"I want as little change as possible on this," Grissom said firmly, "The Bellagio case is important but so is that arsonist."
"Got it," Sara said with a nod knowing she'd lost.
"Nick," Grissom said turning to him, "are you okay with this?"
"Yeah," he said honestly, "I'll go find Warrick and catch up."
"Good," Grissom returned.
Nick left, knowing that his part of this meeting was done.
"Have a seat," Grissom said to the remaining two.
Greg and Sara did as asked and Grissom sat down behind his desk as well.
"I have to know right now that you two can work together."
Both Greg and Sara started to say something but he quickly silenced them both.
"Hear me out. Ecklie is going to know about this, I have to make him aware of any changes to case line-ups. He's going to know and he's going to be watching. Don't give him a reason to write either of you up."
They both nodded.
"Okay," he said and they knew that meant that he was done.
Standing up, Greg caught the door for Sara, and they both made their way down the hall in silence.
"I guess we should start by catching you up," Sara said, looking down the hall.
Greg nodded and tried not to feel as nervous about this as he suddenly did.
Sara led the way, stopping to pick up the case file, before they finally ended up in the small conference room.
Sara went over the case with him, detailed what they knew and what they didn't. Let him in on all the evidence they had that linked the five fires together which truthfully wasn't much.
They knew that the fires had all been started in empty buildings and that the person responsible had used kerosene to start them. The first two looked like crimes of opportunity, but the last three appeared to have been plotted and planned more carefully. In the remains of the latest they found newspaper articles about the crimes.
"So no prints, hair, nothing?" Greg asked looking up at her from across the table.
"None."
Greg nodded and went back to looking over the files.
"Nick and I were going to go back out to the latest tonight," Sara said after a pause.
"Okay," Greg said getting to his feet.
Sara nodded this time and followed suit, walking just ahead of him down the hall to the locker room. Before leaving Sara mentioned the items she'd dropped off yesterday for Amy, so they detoured into the lab.
Amy, upon seeing them walk in together, did a double take.
"Hi," she said uncertainly.
"Did you get anything off those bottles?" Sara asked.
"The glass bottle had nothing but trace amounts of liquid I sent to Dave that came back as kerosene. The soda bottle had some saliva around the lip, but I haven't got a match to anyone."
Sara nodded and took the reports. While she was looking at them Amy cast Greg a questioning glance to which he rolled his eyes in return. A gesture that clearly said if she wanted to know she'd have to ask. Amy glared back at him but quickly changed her expression as Sara was done and returning her gaze to Amy.
Before she had a chance to ask Sara told her.
"Greg and I are working these cases now so if you can't reach me…"
"I'll call Greg," Amy finished with a nod and a smile.
"Right," Sara said nodding herself but not smiling. "We should get going."
Sara turned and left without another word and for a moment Greg lingered, shaking his head at the exchange. Amy once more gave him a questioning look, one of near concern, but he just threw up his hands and backed out of the room to follow Sara.
The ride to the scene was nearly silent. It would have been completely so if Sara hadn't turned on the radio, something she rarely did on the job. Greg, knowing her quirks maybe better then he did his own, knew that she was only doing it now to relieve the pressure of talking. Because if he knew her quirks, she knew his, and Greg couldn't stand silence. If there wasn't some noise in the vehicle, he would have talked no matter how awkward the conversation. Greg wouldn't have been able to stop himself.
They pulled up to the burnt out building and got out together walking under the crime scene tape still left in place.
Sara walked purposefully around the side of the building. A good two-thirds of it was destroyed, the roof partially caved in but the side she led Greg around too was still largely intact.
"Standard MO for our guy is to break a window, gain access, start the fire on the far side of the building giving him an easy way out the way he came and…" Sara stopped with a shrug. They didn't have much more then that.
"Gives him time to stand back and watch," Greg suggested.
"All arsonists like to watch," Sara said with a small smile as she took out her flashlight and scanned the area. "It's why they do it."
"And here I thought they were just cold," Greg said moving about the room now as well looking with his own flashlight.
The both worked silently, finding nothing, but each thinking at least that working together might not be as hard as they'd first thought.
"Can we see the others?" Greg asked.
"Two of them we can," Sara said with a nod ready to go, "The first two buildings have already been demolished."
Sara and Greg spent the majority of the night going over the scenes. When they got back to the lab they went their separate ways without a parting word, each going to see if they could help in other active cases.
Greg ran across Nick who was still sorting prints from the Bellagio in the layout room.
"How's it going?" Greg asked.
"Not bad," Nick said looking up and rubbing his eyes. "You?"
Greg shrugged. What was he supposed to say to that? Nick understood.
"You want to grab breakfast after shift?" Nick asked instead.
"Sure," Greg returned looking down at the table.
"Shifts nearly over now," Nick said looking at his watch, "Help me clean this up will you?"
Greg nodded and the two men had it all locked up in under fifteen minutes.
Amy was already in the locker room when they got there, just sitting on the bench in front of her locker.
"Hey sweetie," Nick said putting a hand on the back of her neck and giving her a gentle squeeze, "you okay?"
"Just tired," Amy answered with a yawn, not getting up. "I don't know, I guess I'm not getting enough sleep."
Greg couldn't stop himself from chuckling into his locker causing them both to look his way.
"Sorry," he said as he shut the door, "but you know, maybe if you two gave it a rest every now and then…"
"Greg," they said in near unison.
"What? Am I right?"
Nick turned to his locker now to get his things as Amy continued to glare in Greg's direction.
"Did you just want me to take you home?" Nick questioned after Amy still hadn't gotten up. "Greg and I were talking about getting breakfast but…"
"No," Amy said shaking her head, "breakfast sounds good."
"Amy really," Greg said shaking his head, "why don't you two go home. I'm fine. I'll see you both tonight at work."
"How about dinner then?" Nick suggested.
"I appreciate it guys but really, I'm fine."
"Okay," Nick said. Greg said goodbye to them both.
Amy was finally on her feet taking her things from her locker.
"Is he okay?" Amy asked, knowing in part why Nick was suddenly so worried.
"He says he is," Nick answered before turning his eyes to her, "Are you?"
"Really, I'm just tired."
"Well I'll take you home and let you sleep," Nick said with a smile.
"That sounds good," she returned as they moved towards the door together.
Nick and Amy's living arrangements hadn't changed much. Amy still had her own apartment but she really didn't spend as much time there as she use to. Nick had been gently pressing her to move in with him but she'd resisted. In reality though, she already was. The majority of her things now resided at his townhouse, even her cat Baxter that Nick hated and only put up with because she loved the fur ball so much.
So when Nick had said he'd take her home only one place came to mind.
Despite the ride being a relatively short one, Amy nodded off in the jeep. Nick and Amy had driven in separately that night but he didn't think she should be driving. He was right and got no argument.
Baxter met them both at the door but only rubbed up against Amy, as he always did. She didn't stop and pet him like she normally did just dropped her things on the coffee table and headed off towards the bedroom.
Nick took a few minutes to check his answering machine and get the mail ready to send out before heading to the bedroom himself. Amy was already asleep, having just stripped down and stolen one of his t-shirts, not even bothering to get under the blankets. With little effort he shifted her around so that she wouldn't get cold later, because she always did, covering her up before heading off to take a quick shower.
Nick wasn't exactly tired yet but figured it was better to sleep now while Amy was than trying to later. He had a lot on his mind, mostly worry for his two friends. Nick hadn't meant to further the problem by challenging Sara's decision to be the one to leave the arson case, but it really was the right thing. She'd worked too hard to not see it through and sooner or later they were going to have to work together again.
Slipping under the blankets it didn't take long for Amy to move towards him. Nick put his arms around her and pulled her close trying to relax.
It wasn't long before he was asleep despite the thoughts that went through his head.
He was still holding out hope that they'd work through this but as each day passed it seemed less likely.