Well it certainly feels like a thousand miles was Nick's silent response after they had been walking for a few hours. It was now full morning in all her glory and the sun had emerged from over the mountain and beat down upon the two beaten-down men. They walked in silence, taking turns leading and following. Grissom had found a sturdy branch to use as a walking stick, which helped. A little. But the ground was rough and steadily increasing in elevation. They had each removed their outer jackets and rolled their sleeves to the elbows but the exertion and sun had left both of them hot and tired. They had found a stream that fed off the alkaline lake they had seen earlier in the trip, but their Litmus test showed that the alkalinity was too high for the water to be potable.

When he thought Nick wasn't looking, Grissom lifted his ankle off the ground, massaging it, trying to will away the pain. When Nick saw Grissom distracted by his ankle he would rub at his sore side.

Don't we make a pretty pair? Nick thought. Each of us too damn stubborn to admit we're hurting to the other.

"Hey, Grissom. I think there're some aspirin in the first aid kit. You want a couple two three?"

Grissom debated turning them down, but playing the tough guy wasn't getting them anywhere fast. He knew he was holding Nick back and cursed himself for insisting he come along. Truth was, he was telling the truth when he'd said he didn't relish being left back at the wreck site on his own for another nightfall. Imagine that. He didn't want to be alone. It was a new sensation that he didn't particularly care for.

"Yes, Nick. I think some aspirin may do the trick. It is after all an anti-inflammatory, and my ankle is quite inflamed. On fire actually" he said with a smile. There. You've admitted you're not Superman. Your ankle hurts, damn it.

Nick stopped and opened the first aid kit and got out an old ratty looking bottle of generic aspirin. I wonder how long this has been in here? He opened it up and shook out three for his boss. "Sorry. No water to wash 'em down with." Grissom just smiled and dry swallowed them one at time, grimacing at the bitter taste they left in his mouth. Nick debated taking some himself, then closed the bottle up and put it back in the kit. "You ready to roll?"

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Sheriff Green was a pissed off man once again. He had been on the phone all morning with Carson City trying to see if they had CSIs they could send out, but budget cuts had left the capitol short-staffed and they couldn't promise they could get anyone out any time soon. He'd been lectured not to touch the bodies - fat chance that'd happen- and asked to secure the crime scene as best as possible. They have no idea what this crime scene looks like, or where it is…nothing could be done about securing this particular scene.

Now it was late afternoon and much as he didn't want to admit it, he was gonna have to try Vegas again. He called and this time a squeaky but professional voice answered. "CSI Crime Lab, this is Judy. How may I direct your call?"

He started by identifying himself and Judy broke in, "Oh. You're the man Dr. Grissom went up to see."

That made him pause for a moment. "No. Actually, that's why I'm calling. No one ever showed last night and I still have two dead bodies here. I need advice on what to do with them."

Judy had been there when Hodges had passed on the call the day before and knew Dr. Grissom had made arrangements to go up to meet the sheriff. "Can you hold for a moment, sir?" Without waiting for the man's response she punched the hold button and dialed an extension. "Detective Brass? Ummm…I have that sheriff from up in Humboldt County on the other line. He says Dr. Grissom never showed up last night? He did go up there, didn't he? … … Detective Brass?"

Brass was struck dumb for a moment, his mind racing. "Yeah, Judy. He went up there with Nick Stokes yesterday. I saw them leave. Put the sheriff though to my line. And call Ms. Willows. Tell her to get over to my office. Now."

Brass was finishing talking to the sheriff when Catherine rushed in. She stopped and stood tapping her foot, waiting for him to get off the call. He hadn't even gotten the receiver back in its cradle before she started asking him what was going on. "Judy calls and tells me Grissom and Nick are missing?" She reached to her waist and pulled free her cell phone and began dialing Grissom's cell. "The caller you are trying to reach has traveled outside a calling zone. Please try your call again later." She tried Nick's and got the same response.

Brass in the meantime was already making his own call to the State Police. He had a BOLO put out for the two men and the Denali and asked that it be passed on to each of the county sheriffs' departments between there and Humboldt. Sheriff Green had already promised they'd begin looking up their way. He had felt so badly that he hadn't called last night and had apologized to Brass several times before the end of the call.

They were both off their calls, and mulling over what to do next when Warrick and Sara came in, talking over each other, asking what had happened.

News sure travels fast in our little lab. Must've been Judy, Catherine thought. But she couldn't deny she was happy the two were there. Four heads might be better than two.

The three criminalists waited while Brass brought them up to speed. Warrick had a few choice four-letter words for the Humboldt County Sheriff but Brass raised a hand to stop him. "The guy felt bad. I think it was a genuine miscommunication. Look. We know they left here yesterday afternoon. Highway Patrol has no reports of any accidents involving a black Denali, so we know they made it as far as the main road would've taken them. The roads from there go through no man's land up in the mountains. Green has promised he'd have his men scout the roads, but there's an awful lot of country to cover up there."

Warrick was the first to volunteer to head up there. He began to tell Brass about his work being caught up, nothing hot pending, but Brass had been expecting this. He knew all three would want to head out immediately, but he also couldn't leave the lab completely staff-less. He knew the next words out of his mouth were going to make someone very unhappy, but heavy is the head that wears the crown…

"Warrick. You and Sara can go up there and help. I'm assigning you to the scene Grissom and Nick were going up to run. Catherine…" he tried to speak over her expected protests. "I need you to stay here. You're senior now, and I'm going up as well. I need to leave you here in charge … hold down the fort here, Cath. Please. And tell Greg that if any calls come in he can go out with you. Sara, Warrick- get your stuff and let's go." They left with promises to call the minute they knew anything. And Catherine was left with her morbid thoughts and fears for her friends.