Chapter 7:

Down in the basement a similar conversation (more like confrontation) was taking place, depending on how you looked at it. Catherine and Tasha were verbally duking it out. They were loud enough to actually wake Brass up who now stood with Olivia and Shannon on the other side of the ping-pong table, away from the volatile women. Nick and Warrick had wisely turned the PS2 back on and were completely immersed in another race.

Catherine's ire was up and she was in full fighting form. "Why were you throwing paper at Lindsey? And where do you get off saying my daughter does drugs?"

Tasha was ready to defend herself. "Oh, come off it! Are you blind? Her eyes are dilated and glassy. She's riding high on her emotions. I mean, she smells of pot. What do you need? A written affidavit from her saying she's smoked a little weed?"

"She'd tell me if she…she was…was…"

"Jay-sus, are you in denial or somethin'?" Sam jumped in.

Catherine stood with her arms akimbo. "Say that to my face."

Sam stood, threw her hat on the couch, and tried to stand nose to nose with Catherine. Unfortunately, her nose just brushed the criminologist's chin.

"Damn, I hate bein' short!" She exclaimed as she rose up on her toes to look Catherine in the eye.

Catherine smirked at the shorter woman. "I thought they grew everything bigger in Texas."

Sam smirked back at her. "And I thought they grew 'em prettier out here in Vegas. Guess I was wrong."

Catherine was about to retort when Lindsey came back down the stairs with Jen not far behind. The girl stuffed the rest of the chocolate bar in her mouth and looked from woman to woman.

"What's going on?"

Catherine pointed at Tasha and Sam and opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out.

Tasha turned to Lindsey. "We know you smoked pot before you came here so just 'fess up."

Lindsey looked back at Jen who just shrugged her shoulders and gave her an 'I tried to tell you' look. She scuffed a toe on the concrete floor. "Mom, I…"

Catherine grabbed her shoulders. "Please don't tell me you did."

"Okay, I won't."

"But why?"

"Because…"

"That's not an answer."

"Because…It helped me forget about what happened to Dad!"

Catherine wrapped her arms around her daughter and Grissom laid a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Go home. We can handle this."

"You sure?"

Sara tossed Lindsey's jacket at her. "Shift's over anyway."

"Nothing's come in and all we're gonna do is sit down here and work on these cases." Nick said as he propped his chin on Sara's shoulder.

Catherine and Lindsey made their way out of the basement. Greg stuck his hands in his pockets and yawned hugely.

"You mind if I go home too?"

Grissom shook his head and waved a hand in dismissal. "Whoever wants to go home can. I'm going to catch a few Z's in my office and then I'm back down here."

"Well I'm staying thanks to those few hours on the couch. You can go if you want to Martin." Brass said.

Shannon stretched and linked her fingers behind her head. "I'll be in the crib if you need me. I'll keep my phone on."

Sam grabbed her cowboy hat and ran after the brunette. "Wait fer me! I don't know where yer crib is."

Olivia sauntered along with Elliot and Tasha trailing behind. Sara, Brass, and Jen all settled around the table each picking up a folder, not really wanting to go through the cases yet again while Nick and Warrick continued to play their game.