In the hot brightness of the Nevada desert, two figures slaved away with shovels, adjusting the level of the land around a square hole in the ground. One was tall, dark haired and handsome; the other was a woman, blonde and tough.
"Think this'll do?" the man asked, leaning on his spade and wiping the back of his hand against his head. The blonde examined the area carefully, almost professionally, then nodded.
"It had better." She began to laugh as they walked back towards their Tahoe, and, sides shaking, stumbled on the uneven ground. Her accomplice caught her before she fell, and the laughter died in her throat as she looked into his eyes.
It was he that turned away after a long moment, setting her back firmly on her feet, mumbling "We have to get back to work." She nodded and walked back to the car, her head slightly bowed.
The body hung from a tree and swung slightly in the evening breeze. Sara Sidle stood watching it, a baffled look on her face as she wandered were the cops were. It was just plain unnatural for a CSI to be the first and only person at a scene. The crime scene was well away from the road, and she wasn't going to approach it alone. She jumped slightly as another car pulled up behind her, and squinted through the windshield to see the drive. She gulped to hide her surprise, and fought to appear casual as her supervisor climbed out of his vehicle, kit in hand. He looked at her then at the distant corpse hanging from the tree, and narrowed his eyes. "Where's Brass?"
She shook her head. "Haven't seem him. Or anybody else for that matter."
He stared at her. "Did they clear the scene?"
"Cath said they did before I got here." She studied him as he studied the decedent, his brow furrowed over intense blue eyes. He wore shades pushed on top of his greying brown hair and...he'd caught her staring. She covered herself. "Grissom, are we going to stand here all day or what?"
"Or what," he replied with a grin. He began striding across the intervening ground between the road and the crime scene, to be quickly overtaken by Sara. She looked ahead, something catching her attention, and she stopped suddenly, causing Grissom to plough into her. She reached out a hand to steady him and pointed to the body.
"Does that look..." She stopped, frowning.
He looked at her oddly. "Does that look...what?" he prompted.
"Real. Does it look real to you?" He focussed his eyes once more on the corpse.
"It does look strange. Let's get a closer look." They set off again and Sara san to talk to Grissom while still walking backwards.
"So What are you doing here anyway? Cath said I'd be working so-"Her words trailed off into a panicked screech as the ground vanished from under her feet. Her arms failed wildly until she grabbed hold of Grissom for balance, only succeeding in pulling him down with her.