Chapter 3

Sara knew her reactions weren't proper. She silently scolded herself as she started to search through some evidence she and Nick had collected. She knew she was letting her own feelings for him get in the way. She should be happy for Grissom. Most everyone hopes to have children; god knows she does. Grissom has that now. It's a good thing, she tried to convince herself.

But it had been four months, and that was the introduction she got. Sara felt she deserved more. She had moved, just for him, changed jobs, just for him, spent the last five years here, just for him. And that was all she got. It made her desire to leave even greater, but she knew she never would because of him.

Across the lab table, Nick was also disappointed in his introduction to Alex. He was hoping it would've been a longer introduction, but for a completely different set of reasons. After seeing her in person, Nick now knew why Greg had been pining over her for the past few months. She was hot! And from what he'd been told about her, very intelligent; the perfect combination. I'm so glad Greg had a date tonight and wasn't here to run into her, he thought to himself, not knowing yet that Greg had been called in.

Elsewhere in the lab, Greg tossed the file he was holding onto the table and sat on the nearest stool. He put his head in his hands and sighed. Of all the luck, he thought, shaking his head at his run in with Alex. The one night he was supposed to be off he gets called in, has to cancel a date and then runs into her. He knew Papa Olaf would call it fate. Greg just called it bad luck.

He didn't know why he felt this way about her either. He had only spent about 12 hours with her, but she was permanently stuck in his brain. It was probably the fact that she was not the usual type of girl that went for him. Normally he would get the attractive, but not much else club chick, or the super geeky, obsessive-type girl. But Alex, she was different and he knew it from the start.

Of course, the major difference turned out to be that she was Grissom's daughter. He knew he shouldn't let that stop him. But he had just made CSI 1 and didn't want any whispers of favoritism. Not that Grissom even knew what that word meant. Maybe I should call, he thought.

"Greggo," Nick said, interrupting Greg's thoughts. "What are you doing here?"

"Warrick got sick, I got called in." Greg explained.

Nick didn't know if he should bring up the run-in with Alex, but noticed the expression on Greg's face and realized he already knew she'd been there. "I met Alex. Ouch!" Nick playfully shook his hand like he hand burned it.

"Thanks a lot, Nicky," Greg whined.

"What're you working on?" Nick asked, changing the subject.

A few hours later, Grissom's cell phone rang. He was in the middle of examining some evidence, but then he saw it was Catherine and answered.

"Grissom," he said.

"Hey Gris," Catherine sounded worried. "Have you heard from Alex recently?"

"She was here a few hours ago, then left saying she was going to pick up Lindsey," Grissom replied.

"That's just it, she never made it," Catherine explained. "And now I have an upset teenager on my hands. I've tried her cell, but it just goes to voice mail."

A feeling started to rise up from the pit of Grissom's stomach, something he hadn't felt since his first visions of Nick trapped in his clear coffin. "That's not like her," he stated. Not like her at all, he thought.

Even though he'd only know Alex for a few months, there were some things about her that were unmistakable: the first being that she was punctual and the second being that she kept her word. If Alex hadn't shown up to get Lindsay, there was definitely something wrong.

"I know it's not like her," Catherine concurred. "That's why I'm worried."

Before Grissom could respond, the beep indicating he had another call sounded. He looked at the caller ID, it was Brass. "Catherine, I'll have to call you back. It's Brass on the other line."

"Ok, let me know if you hear anything from her," Catherine hung up.

"Grissom," he said, clicking over the line.

"Gris, you're going to want to get down to the warehouse district right away," Brass got right to the point.

"What's going on?" he responded.

"A patrol unit found a car belonging to Alex. The rear end was smashed pretty bad and there's blood inside."

Grissom didn't want to ask, but he couldn't stop himself, "And Alex? Is she alright?"

"There's no body in the car," Brass was trying to be careful with his words. The scene did not look good.

"I'll be there right away," Grissom hung up and the feeling in his stomach started to grow.