Shift was nearing its end, and thankfully all the cases that Grissom had handed out were trivial. Sara and Nick were grateful that their ever-so-oblivious supervisor had given them an open-and-shut case.
If they had to walk into the DNA lab, they were guaranteed to spend all night waiting for their results. Greg was awfully pissed (or so Judy, the blonde receptionist, had said), and neither of them wanted to add more fuel to the fire.
"Seen Greggo anywhere?" the Texan whispered. The news of the bet had spread around the lab, and he was sure that the lab rat had heard everything imaginable. Almost everybody had given them some dirty looks or the cold shoulder, save for Warrick, who knew, and Catherine, who understood. Grissom too, acted like nothing had happened, but that was nothing new.
Sara shook her head. "No." Sigh. "He's been avoiding me all day."
"Yeah, me too." He paused, thinking. "Think I should try to explain to him? You're not at blame, Sar."
The brunette frowned. "It's both our faults, Nicky. We should both try to explain."
"Let's go find him then." Nick made a move to get up from the bench.
"No need." A familiar voice bounced off the metal lockers, and its owner's face appeared from around the corner. Greg looked between the two relieved friends, instantly sorry that he had blown up at them.
Nick cautiously smiled. "Man, we're sorry 'bout this morning. Right, Sar?" He elbowed her gently.
"Right." She didn't smile, but had an extremely wary look on her face.
"Just for fun," the cowboy unwittingly added, getting too far ahead of himself too fast.
He should have stopped right there, he really should have.
At those three words, the anger began to build up again, stronger, burning the logic away until it was replaced by unreasonable disgust. Greg felt the pity become eaten away by the rage that was overcoming him. "For fun?" The words came out measured and collected, but his dark eyes smoldered dangerously.
"Uh, yeah. No harm from it." Confusion began to spread across Nick's features. If it wasn't so serious, Greg might have laughed at the bewildered look on his friend-no, make that former friend's face.
"Damn right, no harm," Greg snapped viciously. "Little Greggo's an ADHD freak who can't ever say anything serious, always gotta be funny!" He took a deep breath, and his coworkers stepped back in alarm. "Lab rat turned field mouse. I'm not your fucking pet!"
"Greg?" Sara's voice came out timid, almost frightened. It was in truth-she had never seen him this hell-bent on fury.
"Fuck off, Sara."
The brunette recoiled, looking away in guilt, uncomfortable in the arm that Nick had wrapped around her shoulders. She still had her temper, but now she lost it. "You know what, Greg? We're trying to explain it to you, but you won't listen. We didn't mean anything by it!" Sara pleaded futilely.
Violently shoving past the growing crowd, Greg smashed into Hodges carrying some trace reports. Without stopping to say sorry, he went forward into Grissom's office and slammed the door shut.
Glancing at the now blank-faced Sara and a perturbed Nick, Hodges shot them a smug look, nose in the air, saying "I-knew-it".
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"Catherine, you're with me. Nick, Sara, DB at the Tangiers. Warrick, you and Greg take the bank robbery over on the Strip." Grissom intoned almost monotonously. Not surprisingly, he seemed just as insensible as ever.
It had been a week since the fiasco, and gossip around the lab was once right about one thing: the friendships between Greg, Sara, and Nick, were shot. Word was, Greg had refused to be within five feet of the two of them, unless absolutely necessary. Sara wasn't talking to either of the two men, going back into workaholic-induced isolation.
"I thought I was mentoring Greg." Sara protested weakly, saying his name for the first time in three days. Looking towards Grissom, the words were directed rather towards the man in question.
Grissom and Catherine exchanged a look, one that Nick didn't miss. Maybe their supervisor wasn't as dense as they thought. "Greg asked for Warrick," Grissom said guardedly, still confused as to why. "So, from now on Warrick will be taking Greg out on the field."
The hurt on Sara's face shone as plain as day, but she tried valiantly to hide it. "Oh." Slumping back into her seat, she didn't say another word.
It had been devastating, really, to know that Greg was ignoring her in every way possible. She had even gone to his house, but he had left her out in the November night with nothing more but unheard apologies.
"But Sara's been teaching him from the start," Nick protested, once more directed more towards the youngest of the team.
"It's not your business who teaches me," Greg retorted waspishly.
"It's not Sara's fault."
"Oh, so who's fault is it?"
"Nobody's."
"Like you-"
"Enough already!" Grissom barked, glaring at each of the two in turn. "Stop acting like children and act like the team you are."
Nick looked away, face burning bright rouge in embarrassment. Greg, however, sat up straighter in his chair.
Everybody turned towards him as he leaned forward. "That's it." He slammed his hands palm up on the table , making the team jump in surprise.
"Uh…." Catherine recovered first. "Greg?"
"Day shift or resignation?" he glanced at all of them. Warrick stared at him in astonishment, but didn't say anything.
"What?" Tearing his gaze from his hands, Nick shook his head. "What are you talkin' about?"
"I move. I leave. Which one?" Getting up from his chair, Greg began to pace around the room.
Catherine's aqua eyes followed his movements. "You're giving us an ultimatum?" She crossed her arms, a look of disbelief etched across her face.
"Exactly." He halted in his steps, and faced the group. "So what's it gonna be?"
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Toasting their beers, the foursome cheered in celebration for the anniversary.
"Six months and counting," Warrick grinned as he gulped down half of his bottle.
"Congrats, man." Clapping a hand onto Greg's back, Nick gave Sara a hug. "Gold fish," he added, watching his younger friend pull a card from the pile
She rolled her eyes. "So nobody's going to congratulate me?"
Leaning over, Greg kissed her and dodged the playful slap she had coming his way. "Congrats, Sar. Got a ten?"
Rolling her eyes, she handed him three cards. The spiky-haired CSI gave her a lopsided-grin.
The dark-skinned CSI snickered. "Got you wrapped around his finger, Sara. How much you wanna bet that-"
"No more bets!"