Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks for reading! I'm so glad I actually had someone… Anyways, sorry it took so long to update; I have another account and was busy making a sequel to a story on there. So, without further adieu… Let's get back to the story.

"What's up?" Greg asked, pulling up a chair and sitting across the small 'bar' from Samantha. She looked up briefly before looking back at the file she had been reading. "Long time no see."

"I saw you fifteen minutes ago when I left your apartment." Samantha responded unenthusiastically, and in more of an irritable tone. She tossed her fair, loose hair behind her shoulder and began to work once more.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked as he turned his chair and the folder simultaneously so he had a better view of what she had been studying.

"It's my birthday." She replied sarcastically, taking a paper from her other side and circling something in red. Greg looked up for a moment, he really had believed her for the split second that she had actually sounded serious. His mouth formed into a smirk as he looked down at some of the other files within the folder.

"Then why are you so grumpy, birthday girl?" Greg asked, looking back up at her to raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not grumpy, you're just way to cheerful."

The hall: 10 minutes later…

"Hey Greg, I found those- Hey." Nick stopped halfway in his sentence at the sight of the new CSI. She was a new face, and not one from the day shift either. "Who's this? It's about time you got a girlfriend." He teased as large Texan grin appeared on his face.

Samantha smiled, not looking anywhere near as ill-tempered as she had been before. "He wishes- Sam O'Brien, night shift." She extended her hand. Nick shook it almost instantly.

"Night shift, huh? Nick Stokes- same. Any chance that Sam's short for Samantha?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Greg snickered, turning away slightly so Sam couldn't tell.

"Actually yeah, but I go by Sam. Samantha's too formal for me." Samantha explained once more, hoping that she wouldn't have to do it too many more times. She sent a quick glare in Greg's direction before looking back to Nick.

He nodded, letting go of her hand as it returned to the folders she was about to transfer to Mia. "I know- imagine being named after Santa Claus."

"Santa Claus?" Greg asked himself out loud, his mind blank for a moment.

"St. Nicholas, Greg." Nick explained, deciding to get back to what he had approached him for. "Like I was saying- I had to use the print machine, so I ran yours through the machine like you asked." He handed Greg a paper, instantly attracting both Sam and Greg's attention. "Some interesting results."

"Oh- I'd say so." Greg said, nodding slowly and surprisingly at the paper. Sam took it out of his hands, coming close to acting the same way- shocked, yet she didn't begin to nod her head like Greg did. Instead, her eyes widened slightly.

"This- this certainly gives it a spin." Sam agreed, reading the results again. "Thank you- so much Nick." It was a few seconds before Sam looked up. "Really, this is great."

"No problem- anytime you guys. All I did was sit there and let the computer do the work." Nick responded, nodding to the two as he laughed lightly. "I guess I'll see you two around." He walked past them as Greg grabbed for the paper once more, unsuccessful at getting the paper back from Sam.

"Greg- do you know how much of a spin this puts on the case?" She asked, forcing her chocolate eyes to meet his dark hazel; trying to help work his mind on the case. She didn't have to look up to him too much- just a few inches or two.

"Yeah, I do- I'm not that bad as a rookie am I?" He asked, chuckling at himself. "There is a spin when an ex-felon was at the house."

Outside Grissom's Office: 7 minutes later…

Grissom had gone out for a case. Some of the technicians who had seen him leave estimated him to be back any minute; but Samantha had brought work for her and Greg. Greg had convinced her to tell Grissom about her moving in with him at the first of the shift rather than the last.

"He'll think there's a gap in trust between you two- he's big on that." Greg informed her as they sat on a bench outside of his closed office door, his hands behind his head as he leaned back in his seat. "Not openly, but I do think that some of the cases he assigns is because who he can trust to work on their own, you know?" He asked, looking over at the woman next to him. "He'll most likely think that either you don't trust him; or that he shouldn't trust you."

"Right." Samantha rolled her eyes, still looking over some of the information that Nick had given them. She was a little nervous about giving the information to her supervisor- sure he seemed okay already, but you really never know people. All she wanted was just to keep her job. "Greg- he was an accessory to murder."

"Grissom? How'd he get this job?" Greg asked, instantly sitting up straight. "I didn't think you could do that."

"You can't." Samantha replied, holding up a sheet of paper for Greg to look at. He took it in his own hands and read it.

"Oh, right- good ol' Andy Irvine, the ex-felon." Greg flipped the page over, checking for a back- yet it was blank. He turned it to the other side as Samantha nodded and continued.

"Charged on two accounts of rape and accessory to murder. I bet it was in violation of his parole to be around that girl." Sam smiled and took it back from him, putting it in the folder. "What was he doing there? I mean, why rape a millionaire's daughter who's covered in high-priced security when you can go rape and kill a prostitute?"

"A grudge, revenge; maybe he didn't kill her." Greg shrugged, though the thought was still mulling through his mind. It was a stupid idea.

Samantha shook her head. "Think logically Greg; 2 accounts of rape and accessory to murder."

"Don't get stuck to thinking logically- most of the time thinking outside of the box is what solves the case."

The interruption caused Samantha and Greg to look up at the same time, both able to see Grissom with a clever smirk on his face. "I bet it's safe to say you two need to see me." He asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Actually- yeah." Samantha responded, losing her courage and immediately being filled with a mixture of nervousness and even fear. What if she did lose her job? She couldn't go back to Chicago; they wouldn't take her back. She just knew that something would go wrong.

"Alright then- come on in." Grissom turned, unlocking his door and pushing it so it opened as far as it could and stopped. He turned on the lights, making his way behind his desk and sitting down. "How important is it?" He asked, arranging the new folders on his desk perfectly and then looking up at the two.

"Trust-important;" Greg replied, beginning to shut the door just before Gil motioned for him to do so. Samantha nervously sat in one of the two seats in front of his desk, Greg doing the same a few seconds later.

It was a few moments before anyone said anything. Samantha was nervously moving her heel up and down, while looking at her clasped hands. Greg was calmly examining the contents of Gil's office from afar, his eyes trailing to the various jars that were sitting on the shelves hanging on the wall. Grissom himself was studying the two's behavior, and it was he that decided it had been enough time since they had entered the office.

"So; trust-important?" He asked, looking from Greg to Samantha. "How?"

"Trust like if we didn't tell you at the beginning of the shift you wouldn't trust us." Greg paused, glancing at a jar of mysterious contents before looking back at Grissom and continuing. "Well; you already don't trust me. I'm talking about Samantha."

Gil's eyebrows rose. "Really? Sam?" Grissom asked, looking over to the woman. She hadn't even noticed that Greg had called her by her real name- he might not have either. "Well, what is it?"

"Oh… You see, when I moved here I didn't have a place to stay; so I staid in a hotel." Samantha started, looking up at Grissom and then back down at her hands briefly, before deciding to try and keep eye contact. Gil nodded understandingly, putting Sam somewhat at ease. "So when Greg found out he offered me a place at his apartment; and I accepted." Samantha partially winced, ready for a loud and long lecture at the least. She had used some formal language to try and sway her chances.

Instead she heard silence. Slowly she looked up, and she wasn't all that afraid anymore. Grissom hadn't changed his expression- he was still calm, collected, and didn't even seem like he was going to scold her at all for it. He was thoughtfully staring at her over his hand, which was placed near his mouth in the position that someone would if there was deep thought involved.

Greg hadn't moved. Sam was sure that he had probably been in that seat at least a couple times before. At least he knew how Grissom would react to some things that might be said; which gave him a better chance to some extent when it came to telling Grissom what happened, and getting themselves out of this mess.

"Sam- I'm going to ask you this once, and I want the truth. There won't be any punishment." Grissom spoke clearly, almost as if talking to someone who barely knew English.

"I- that's not a question." She stated softly, causing a small smile to appear on her superior's face.

"I know." He merely responded, still calm, and he and Greg's seemingly laid back moods at the moment were the only things that kept Sam together. "Did you two have sex?" He asked Samantha, leaning slightly closer as their eyes met.

"What? No!" Sam assured him, shaking her head. Grissom held up one finger, as if to remind her that he was only going to ask her the question one time.

"Once Sam."

"No! I slept in the bed and he slept on the couch." She promised, and his eyes staid locked with hers as if they were searching for some hint of a lie. He finally sat fully back into his chair, glancing over at Greg who was also looking at Samantha.

"Alright then. I'm glad you told me about this early on Sam." He nodded, opening one of his folders and taking a mechanical pencil from the pencil holder on his desk. "Ok, you two are done."

"We're- what?" Greg asked with a slight panicky tone in his voice also. Apparently he didn't want to lose his job either- or something else.

"Done- this conversation's over." Grissom answered, looking up for a mere second before returning to his work. "You can leave now."

"So we're not fired, or suspended- anything?" Greg asked once more, now being the one to talk as Sam had found some sense of silence. It hadn't gone as bad as she thought so far.

"No, not at all." Grissom answered, stopping all of his work to look up at the two sincerely. "I don't have any control with what you do outside of work." The look on Grissom's face was one that Samantha would never forget. He looked as if he understood them, but they were slowly wearing away at his nerves. Like he was the first father figure she had had in a long time.

But she didn't need to jump to things- she had only known Gil for about a day; and people's first impressions can often be wrong.

In the locker room: at the end of the shift…

Sam thought that Greg was her mirror image when she turned around, noticing that he too had his locker opened and was fumbling with something inside. Although his locker wasn't exactly opposite of hers, it felt awkward to turn around and see that he was doing almost the same thing that she was.

"What are you doing?" She asked, turning back to her opened locker and trying to arrange the contents to give it a homey-feel. If she couldn't have her own place, the least she could do is make her locker feel like her own place.

"Nothing." Greg answered, taking his wallet out of his locker and checking his wild hair in the mirror hanging on the back 'wall' of his locker. "Just making sure I didn't lose any of my so called personality. You?" He asked, turning slightly to look back at her.

Samantha smiled, understanding as soon as she looked back at him. "Making my locker feel like home." She replied, enjoying the peaceful few moments of silence that followed.

"So, where do you wanna go eat?" Greg asked, finished with his locker, but not closing it until Sam would. If he did close it, he would wait around for her. That's just how it had been since the day before- Sam had staid around him because she knew him, and he let her. It gave her some sense of security. Yet if he staid behind after he shut his locker, no doubt it would be awkward; it would be like he was watching her like a stalker.

"Me? Why?" Samantha asked, turning around.

Greg smiled to himself in the mirror. "Because we've been hanging out, and I just wanted to know if you wanted to come with me." He answered, looking back at her for her reaction and the way she would answer. It took a while, but she finally did.

"Why do you care?" Samantha turned to see him looking at her, and it was a good few moments before either one of them did anything. Her fingers were resting on the small door of her locker, ready to shut it but waiting. "Why would you want me to come?" She asked quietly, thinking it over in her own head. She would never be doing things for a stranger like Greg was- probably not even someone she knew, unless they were a close family member.

"Because, you haven't ate since the beginning of the shift; and you didn't eat for a day yesterday. I just thought you'd be hungry." He replied, turning back to his locker and breaking their eye contact. Sam turned back to her locker, adjusting the new oval shaped mirror she had put in the door and ran a few fingers through one side of her hair. She was thinking it over and really didn't know what to do this time; yet she hadn't the time before either.

She sighed, once again ready to close her locker door. "Greg- I don't know, I don't want to get in trouble with Grissom or anything…"

"You heard him- he doesn't care what we do outside of work."

"He said he has no control, not that he doesn't care." Sam corrected him, looking for excuses not to go. To tell the truth, she really did want to- she just knew it would be somewhat awkward for her.

Greg took a slightly deep breath and shut his locker door staring at it for a moment before he turned around to look at Sam again. "Alright; I think there's like some bread and stuff at home." He informed her, picking up his light jacket and lingering for a moment to wait for her reply.

"You know what- fine, I'll go then." Sam answered, not realizing that he was already waiting for her. She took one last look at the inside of her locker, then slowly shut the door and picked up her purse. She just prayed that where they were going wouldn't be anywhere wild.

Hotel Restaurant: 45 minutes later…

"I'm paying for yours too, you know."

"No you're not."

It was the third time that Greg had told her he was paying for it all; mostly while they were looking over the menus of the slightly fancy restaurant on the strip. Samantha kept refusing and assuring him that she would pay; yet she didn't know exactly how she would do it.

"Yes, I am. It'll be a welcoming present." Greg reassured her, looking back down at his menu.

"You've already given me a welcoming present- you're paying my rent." Samantha reminded him, glancing at him over the laminated paper.

"You're rent's free- so you deserve another present, ok?" That was the last of the simple argument. He was so- different. No one had ever bothered to even care about where she lived, much less how she paid for her dinner. As much as she might have hated to admit it to someone else, Greg was slowly but surely becoming a good friend of hers. And Samantha didn't mind it at all.