"Where do you think the others are," Greg asked Nick and Catherine as they were working the next day.

"I don't know," Catherine answered. "I tried all three of their cells, but I got no answer." She looked to Nick who just shook his head.

"I just don't get it though, why aren't they responding," Nick said. "Unless of course they can't get signal, which…" Nick stopped speaking and answered his phone, he smiled when he heard the voice on the other end.

"Hey Nick, its Warrick."

"Warrick! Where have you been! We've been starting to worry!" The other two smiled.

"I was just out driving and I decided to go up to the mountains for awhile, plus I'm on vacation, it was approved before I left. Unlike you, which reminds me, what happened with you?"

"I was worried about Sara, so I left to find her, but I was called back to work."

"Well you didn't do that good of a job finding her."

"What do you mean?"

"She's standing right here next to me, we met up in Yellowstone. Here, I'll let her talk to you."

"Hey Nick, I heard you went searching for me."

"Yeah, I was worried, how are you?"

"I'm fine. You know, I did request three weeks of vacation, you shouldn't worry about me so much."

"Sorry, that's what friends are for."

"I know, I think it's sweet actually," she said with a smile.

"You know what, Greg wants to talk to you, and so does Cath, so I'm going to put this on speaker phone alright?"

"Alright, I'll do the same."

"Sara, it's Greg, we've been worried about you, you too Warrick, where are the two of you, and have you talked to Grissom?"

"Um, we're in Denver right now," Warrick answered. "Why do you need to know where Grissom is?"

Catherine spoke up first, "He left after I did, you see, we all left the lab. Nick, Greg, and I were the only three they could reach, and they told us to come back. We've been trying to reach the three of you, but this is the first we've gotten through to anyone. We don't know what's up with Grissom. This isn't like him at all."

Sara gave Warrick a worried look, and then she said, "I'll call him and see if he answers. I don't know what else to say though, he is an adult who can take care of himself, maybe he just needed to go and figure something out. We'll be back at the end of the week, when our vacations are up, we'll try to find him, just try to hold things down until then I guess."

Then they all said good bye.

Meanwhile, Grissom was driving through the deserts of the southwestern United States, and into the hot and humid southern states. He was experiencing more in a few days than he had in nearly fifty years of life. He figured that he might return to Vegas after going to all the forty-eight contiguous states, but then several things happened to change his mind.

While he was stopped at a diner, he decided to listen to his voice mail, but hearing the concerned voices of his friends for the first time in over a week weakened his resolve, in fact it made him second guess everything. His final message was from Sara, for some reason it meant more to him than the rest, not because he cared about her more, but because there was something unique about her, she was so vibrant, yet so fragile at the same time.

"Hey Grissom it's Sara, whenever you get this, I just want you to know that Warrick and I are looking for you and we are worried, not just concerned (as you once said about me). The rest of the lab is worried to. We miss you and your knowledge. I understand wanting to get out and see other things, but it may be time to come home, exploration can happen another time all right. Well, I hope that you'll respond, or just return. Bye."

Part of him protested that if he left he would never explore the world again, but then he looked up at the television monitor, and he saw the news that was on it. A hurricane named Katrina had just destroyed several US cities in the Gulf of Mexico, one was Biloxi Mississippi, and another was New Orleans Louisiana. Many were dead and even more were homeless. This was a time to be with people who mattered, his friends, who were the only family he really had. So he left for Las Vegas.

Thank you for your reviews: Icklebitodd, csifreak04, CSIFan4Life