Chapter Nineteen – Revenge is sweet.

Harriet walked happily into the break room at the start of her shift, smiling at Sara who was sitting reading a crime novel on the sofa. Sara smiled back, curiously and put the book down.

'Whose bed did you wake up in this morning?' Sara said, cheekily.

'My own!' Harriet said, shocked and embarrassed at the accusation although secretly she wouldn't have minded if her answer had been Greg's bed.

She scolded herself for thinking so rudely and proceeded to get a mug of coffee as in a speak-of-the-devil moment, Greg appeared in the doorway. He had been in the men's locker room putting his stuff away. He looked pale and out of breath.

'What's wrong with you?' Sara asked.

'I've just had the most horrible experience,' Greg said, dramatically, still panting as he slumped onto a chair at the table.

'What do you mean- did someone see you naked?' Harriet asked, turning to him with a smirk on her face.

Greg's eyes widened and he looked like he wanted to kill her. Today was going to be such fun, she thought, as he looked at her for a second or two and then looked back at Sara who was completely oblivious.

'I was in the locker room getting ready for shift when I felt something tickling my leg and I looked down and it was…' Greg stopped and shuddered as if cringing at the memory.

'It was…?' Sara prompted.

'Monty,' Greg said, lifting his hands up and wriggling his fingers as he gave another shudder, looking like he was imitating the movement of spider's legs.

'Who?' Sara asked.

'The tarantula in my lab,' Harriet informed her.

'You have a tarantula in your lab?' Sara repeated.

'Its been there for nearly a month,' Harriet said in disbelief.'Greg's not his biggest fan.'

Sara smiled at Greg. 'Aww poor Greggo's scared of spiders?' she said, playfully.

Harriet felt a pang of jealously as she watched Greg look back at Sara. He had that bashful, flirty look in his eyes and Sara seemed to be looking flirtingly back at him. She hadn't realised there was a chemistry between the two CSI's but she could see it now. Disappointed wasn't the word. What was she thinking? She didn't like him that much anyway, did she?

'I've got to go,' Harriet said hurriedly and rushed out of the room towards her lab, finding that Monty was back in his tank. That must have been the other part of Greg's harrowing experience – having to put the spider back.

She smiled to herself, forgetting her dark mood at realising nothing was ever going to happen between her and Greg. Did she even want it to happen? She hadn't thought she had that much of a thing for him but there was something about him that she couldn't get off her mind.

In an attempt to take her mind off being attracted to Greg, she spent the next couple of hours tormenting him in the same way he had a few weeks previously after her own bath towel incident. Every time she went to see him or he came to her, she made an ambiguous comment to him regarding sizes. Her favourite one was when he and Nick came to see her with a sample they had found and needed identifying.

Harriet placed the evidence onto a slide and put it under the microscope. After a couple of seconds she had identified it.

'It's a diamond,' she said.

'A diamond?' Nick repeated, taking a look for himself. 'But it's tiny.'

'Looks can be deceiving,' Harriet quipped. 'I've heard size doesn't matter, isn't that so Greg?'

She tried hard to suppress a laugh at that one as she saw the look on Greg's face. Nick looked up from the microscope and looked at the two of them.

'You are a sad, sad little woman,' Greg said, half seriously.

'I do my best,' Harriet smiled sweetly.

'Am I missing something here? Is there something going on between you two?' Nick asked.

'No!' Harriet and Greg said quickly at the same time.

She looked at him, feeling her face go red. He glanced at her for a moment, catching her eye and then breaking away as Grissom came jogging down the corridor. Their supervisor hadn't taken a sudden interest in keeping fit although the sight of him in a tracksuit and a sweatband would be disturbingly funny but judging by the look on his face, something was seriously wrong.

'Greg I need to speak with you now,' Grissom said, panting, trying to get his breath back.

'Sure Griss, what's up?' Greg replied.

Grissom looked at Harriet in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. Something was wrong and there was an ominous vibe about it.

'Privately please Greg,' Grissom said, quietly.

Harriet watched, puzzled, as Grissom and Greg walked out of the lab and a little way down the corridor. She watched Greg's face change as his supervisor spoke. She recognised that change in his face, she remembered it from the phone call he had received telling him that Mikey Richardson had died. Just as she was wondering what could possibly be the problem, her stomach sank as she saw Greg look at her briefly. Something terrible had happened and it was about to affect her. Rick had looked at her in the same way right before he'd told her they'd found her mother's body. She wasn't about to sit here and let them talk about her. She got up from her seat and began walking out towards them.

Greg looked at Harriet, his heart heavy with the news he had just been told.

'Don't look at her,' Grissom said. 'I don't want you to panic her.'

'Too late,' Greg said, as he looked away 'She's coming over here now.'

He felt weak as she reached them and began to ask what was going on and if it was something to do with her. Greg really didn't want to have to be the one to tell her this. He looked to Grissom for support who nodded and took Harriet to his office.

Greg didn't follow them. Instead, he watched as they went down to the end of the corridor into Grissom's room. Being told bad news in a room full of preserved bug corpses could hardly soften the blow, Greg thought, but she definitely needed sitting down for this one. He couldn't understand how he had managed to stay standing himself as Grissom had relayed it to him.

'Brass had a call out to a disturbance, it turns out it was your apartment.'

'What kind of disturbance?' Greg had said back, shocked.

'Neighbours said they heard screaming and crying. Brass found Emily unconscious on the living room floor with head injuries, there was no sign of Jake,'

Greg had felt sick; the babysitter was in hospital and Harriet's child was missing. Had he run away, scared by the attacker, or had he been taken? What would Harriet say? She had only just begun to form a bond with Jake; he couldn't bear the thought of the guilt she would feel if something happened to him. That was when he had looked across at her and he knew from the look he got back that she knew something was wrong.

He stood helplessly as he saw Harriet get up from the chair in Grissom's office and run back down the corridor towards him. She had a hand to her mouth and tears in her eyes as he watched her run into the ladies locker room. Grissom looked at him from his office, his face was blank. Greg hung his head for a moment and went after Harriet.

A/N - I don't know, I'm back to the angst again. I can't help it, I like a bit of drama. Maybe I'm trying to make up for my rather poor jokes. Anyway thank you again for reading this far and congratulations if you are still awake. Chapter Twenty beckons...