Thanks for all the reviews! You guys are great, as always

Chapter Two: Falling

"I heard you had some trouble at your crime scene," Ecklie stated in introduction as he walked into the room. Greg winced, but didn't answer as he pulled another bag out from the collection bin. Next to him Sara glanced up, moving to answer.

"We uh…we lost some evidence, the cadets were never able to find a couple of the bags. They weren't gentle collecting them either," she let out a sigh, holding a gloved hand out that was covered in scattered fragments. "We lost the swabs, with the contamination it's near impossible to tell what's relevant and what's not."

Greg remained silent as Sara continued, logging in what little evidence they had left. They would be lucky to get anything off of this case, thanks to him.

"How did it happen?"

This was the part Greg had been dreading, and he shifted uncomfortably when silence passed through the room. Clearing his throat he looked up, keeping his voice low, but clearly obvious. "It was my fault," he started, but was cut off quickly by Sara.

"It was no one's fault," she said sternly, turning to look at him before trading glances with Ecklie. "It was an accident."

The older man nodded, but seemed far from being convinced. "I want to know how this accident happened…what we lost, what we can still use…"

"I'll be sure to do that," Warrick cut him off, coming into the room. He gave Greg a cold glare before continuing. "Part of my responsibility since I'm the lead on the case. The report will be on your desk as soon as it's finished."

"I'd like that," Ecklie cleared his throat as he straightened his tie; crossing his arms once he was done.

"I'll run the case," Sara stated suddenly. Greg looked up at her cautiously, missing the surprised glances of the other two men.

"I'll take it," Warrick argued slowly, "I'm lead, it's my call."

"Exactly," Sara nodded, pulling her gloves off. "You can't just abandon the case, and Greg can't work solo, so the obvious choice would be me."

"We need someone that won't be biased," Ecklie pointed, another frown creeping on his face.

"I was down in the pipe when it happened," Sara argued, moving further into the center of the room. "I didn't see anything…I couldn't be biased even if I wanted too."

Ecklie nodded in approval, obviously pleased at her answer. From the look on Warrick's face it was obvious that he was the complete opposite, yet he made no move to argue any further.

Greg let out a silent breath of relief. It made him feel better if only slightly that Sara would be running the case. He doubted Sara would work in his favor, but at least she would be fair…he closed his eyes, fighting off the nauseating smell as he opened one of the last bags.

"I'll finish," Sara turned back to him, catching his eye as the others left the room.

Greg looked at her questioningly, still holding the bag open with gloved hands. "I'm okay…" he reached in carefully, pulling out the handful of nails Warrick had bagged earlier. "There's still blood on them, we may be able to use it still."

He looked up as her hand came down on his, stopping his movements. "I'll take care of it. You've pulled your hours, head on home."

At first Greg wanted to argue, feeling as though he was being let down, but Sara nodded at him, at the same time pushing him gently out of the way. It was probably the wisest idea…he felt exhausted, a combination of his weariness and worry, as well as guilt. With his hands limp at his side he watched her work for a moment, stumbling over his words as he lowered his voice.

"I'm sorry," he started to apologize, coming to a stop when Sara shook her head.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Sara answered, taking her time to look up at him. "Even if evidence shows that you're at fault, I know you didn't mean it."

Greg nodded slowly, comforted by her words. She was going to run the investigation as one would normally, listening to the evidence instead of emotions. "Are you okay?"

She gave him a quick smile, nodding. "A few bruises, a scratch here and there. Gave me an adrenaline rush more than anything," she laughed softly before becoming more serious. "What about you?"

Greg was quiet, unsure of what to say. His arm was still hurting, though not as bad as it first had. He flexed his fingers slowly, wincing in pain, but it went unnoticed, and he was quick to mask it. "I'm fine," he nodded in return, his voice tight as the lie passed easily. "I'll catch up with you later on then…I mean, unless you want me to stay, I have no problem with that."

"It's fine," she reassured him, "I'll start on the new case once I finish logging in the evidence, you'll have a hard enough time trying to keep up with Warrick. Go home while you can."

He nodded, lowering his head as he said his final goodbyes, heading out into the hallways. Sara had told him to go home, but somehow he felt guilty for leaving when everyone else was still hard at work. Sure, he could go home easily enough, and he wanted to desperately, but it would be the best for everyone if he faced Warrick tonight. He knew the older man would be upset with him; it was apparent enough that he already was. Maybe he could close the gap at least a little tonight.

He wasn't hard to find, and Greg was glad to see that was alone. With a single knock he entered the room, coming to a stop when Warrick looked up. As quickly as he had though, he looked away, going back to his work.

"I'm free if you need a hand," Greg offered, coming closer to the table.

"You've done enough," Warrick pointed out sternly, not bothering to look up this time.

The words stung, but Greg let them pass, taking in a breath to steady himself. "I figured we could get ahead tonight, make it less of a load tomorrow maybe."

"We aren't doing anything," Warrick was quick to interrupt him. "It's going to take a miracle to land this case, we have hardly anything, I can't risk another screw up."

"I didn't mean for it too happen," Greg responded, his voice rising. "Do you honestly think I wanted to hurt Sara?"

"No," Warrick shot back, making firm eye contact with him, "I think you wanted to be the hero, and instead of asking for help when you screwed up you tried to take care of everything yourself. It was a foolish choice, the only reason you're getting away so easily is because Sara won't do anything. If I had a say in it you would be on suspension while your work files were reviewed. We work as a team; we can't have people like you trying to be a one-man team."

"Is that what you think?" Greg asked, his voice matching that of Warrick's. The situation was unraveling quickly, in the complete opposite direction he had intended. Still he was having a hard time believing what he was hearing. From Warrick none the less, the man normally had strong control over his emotions.

"Yes," Warrick nodded, "but that won't happen, sadly enough. However, since I'm lead on the case, I'm telling you now that your part in this investigation is over with."

"You can't cut me off," Greg argued, "Like it or not, you are in charge of me. Grissom wouldn't be very pleased to hear that you're not following through on your job."

"I didn't say you weren't going to be doing any work," Warrick snapped angrily. "I just said you were done helping with the case. There are some cold case files in the layout room. You can go through those."

"Grissom told you do those," Greg pointed out quietly, the feeling of defeat creeping over him.

"Now I'm telling you," Warrick had gone back to his work, his voice still stern but no where as loud as it had been previously.

Greg didn't respond this time, but he made no move to leave either. He stood their quietly, watching the older man work, an irate feeling growing as he was continually ignored.

"Either go work the case files or go home," Warrick finally spoke, breaking the uneasy silence. It was clear he was going to change his mind, leaving Greg to let out a heavy sigh, turning on his heel as he left the room.

He was feeling worse than before, wishing now he had listened to Sara, and had head home straight away. Reviewing cold cases did not sound appealing at the moment, and part of him refused to complete a job that had originally been giving to another team member. His trek found him in coming to a stop in the locker room, and he lowered himself onto the bench in front of his locker.

His mind searched over the possible answers to what had happened. Was it possible he had missed something? Could everything been prevented if he had paid more attention? Warrick was constantly on him about his attitude towards cases, frowning on his 'lack of respect' towards victims, or as Warrick like to call it.

Perhaps if he had been more serious, maybe if he had focused more…there were a lot of maybes, none of which he could answer. Warrick was right, in a sense. He had cost the lab a lot. Not only in money, but in time, evidence…it would take a miracle to close the case. A killer would more in likely go free because of him. And Sara…Sara was okay…but that was luck…pure and simple luck. He was beyond lucky that she was okay, if he hadn't grabbed the rope when he did…

He grimaced as he glanced down at his arm, clenching his fingers and opening them slowly. Greg hadn't any time to take a good look at it. First it had been lighting issues, then he was always with someone. Taking a quick look around Greg nodded, confirming that he was indeed alone as he reached down with his good hand, his fingers hooking around the end of his sleeve.

He worked the fabric up carefully, moving slow as he stretched his arm out. Letting out a sigh, he pushed it passed his elbow, holding his arm out in front of him, his fingers lightly tracing the dark bruising patterns. It wasn't a wonder why it hurt so much…a bruise like that wasn't easy to obtain.

"You hear Sanders screwed up out in the field?"

Greg looked to the side; the voices were quiet, but unmistakably clear as the two lab technicians walked by.

"Heard he messed up big time. Ruined an entire case..."

"He's such a klutz," the first one laughed, "We should consider ourselves lucky we got rid of him. Now we don't have to worry about him."

Greg let his head drop into his one good hand, letting out a sigh. Was there any possibility that this night could get worse? The entire lab knew by now, and he had a few guesses to who let it all slip out. Pulling his sleeve back down he jumped up, pausing long enough to grab his keys before heading out.

TBC