Disclaimer: CSI? Nope not mine, check with Jerry Bruckheimer.

A/M: Apparently, I have zero self control, because I wasn't gonna post this yet. I also have no beta so any and all typos and mistakes are mine and probably due to exhaustion. As always thanks so much for the reviews (I told you they make me write faster!) and I hope you like this chapter as much as the previous ones.

Chapter Five: Same 'Ol, Same 'Ol

"Pregnant?"

She gave him a look as she pulled from the sign. "Yeah. Pregnant. Ya know, expecting. With child. Preggers. You're gonna be a daddy," she laughed and looked at him. "Close your mouth, you'll catch flies."

"Wow." He wasn't capable of say much else.

"Yeah, 'wow'," she laughed again."How far?"

"Almost four months," she said proudly.

"When'd you find out?"

"Yesterday. I wanted to tell you in person. That's why I didn't just call you."

"Oh...Wow."

She chuckled. "Kinda stunned, huh? Well, while that's sinking in, why don't you tell me what you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh...uh..."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Catherine glanced at her cell phone's caller ID before flipping it open and pressing it to her ear. "How'd she take it? Should I fear for my life?"she asked, not at all joking.

"I couldn't do it."

"You couldn't do it?"

A heavy sigh was the only reply.

"Warrick, you've got to tell her. You can't-"

"Catherine...she's-she's pregnant, Cath."

"Oh...uh," she paused, unsure of what to say. "Uh, congratulations?" she tried, the words feeling woefully inadequate and wrong.

He sighed again. "Uh, yeah. Thanks.

It was silent for a moment.

"What are you gonna do now?"

His breathing was the only sign that he was still on the line. "Warrick?"

"I don't know."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

A little over two months later and he still hadn't told Tina. He just couldn't bring himself to do it. Be it cowardice or guilt, the pregnancy or a combination of all three, the timing just never seemed right and so the days turned to weeks and he still hadn't done it.

The craziest thing of all, or at least it seemed so to him, was that everything continued on as usual and how easily he could pretend that everything was normal. He went to work, came home, talked to Tina when she was there, went to sleep and did it all again the next day.

Of course, there were slight differences day to day, breakfast with the rest of shift, a movie, or dinner out, but the monotony of it all was in stark contrast with his mental state. He was in turmoil. At least on the home front.

Thankfully, the initial awkwardness with Catherine had finally subsided. The first few days back were torture. Whenever they were together the tension was tangible. A blind man could see that something was up, but the team had let what was going on between them stay between them, and he was grateful. But now they were back to their usual friendly banter and closeness.

Halloween was fast approaching, which meant an increase in the freaks and crimes already prevailing Vegas. This increase left the Crime Lab exceptionally busy, but Warrick was glad for it. It was his only reprieve. After all, one didn't have much energy to feel guilty after working a triple shift.

Warrick tiredly made his way to his apartment after pulling a double on the 12 hours of sleep he'd had in the past seventy-eight hours.

He unlocked the door, closing it behind him. "Tina?" He walked in the living room. "Tin-" he stopped, spying a sheet of computer paper propped against a candle on the coffee table. He dropped his keys next to it and picked it up.

Hey Rick,

Got called in.

Be home as soon as possible.

Dinner's in the fridge.

Love you,

T.

He'd been walking towards the kitchen as he read. Sighing he balled up the paper and pulled open the fridge. Noting that dinner was leftovers, he grabbed a bottle of water. Tossing the paper in the trash, he downed the water and pushed closed the refrigerator door.

He'd be glad when she was finally on maternity leave. Juggling work, his conscience and guilt was enough to deal with without worrying about her.

God, he was tired. He'd be off to bed as soon as he typed up a few notes on the case he was working. It was a habit he'd started just in case he got an idea or had the urge to look at all the evidence together without heading back to the lab, something that happened quite often.

He entered their home office and flicked on the lights. He made a mental note to start moving the stuff from this room to the extra bedroom down the hall. They both wanted the baby's room as close to theirs as possible and this was it.

Fortunately, there wasn't much to move. His gaze took in the computer desk, rolling chair, two filing cabinets and a few smaller items. The hardest thing to move would be the aquarium in the corner. It was quite large. He'd have to have Nick help him.

He walked to the desk and noticed a small pile of bills sitting on top. They all had 'paid' written in Tina's swirling red script. He realized she must not have had time to shred them before she left and picked up the stack, walking over to the shredder next to the filing cabinets.

He stuck the first bill into the slot and sighed when nothing happend. The darn thing was jammed again. They really had to get a new one.

Irritated that this was cutting into his sleeping time, he thought about just leaving the bills and the notes for tomorrow. But he knew that it could very well be impossible to do tomorrow or the next day or the next. Resigning himself to the task, he lifted the shredder from the top of the waste basket and turned it over, instantly spotting the cause of his delay. An industrial sized paper clip was wedged in the blades.

This would take a while and he sighed again. Glancing in the basket that caught all the bits of paper he noticed that one of them was intact. It was saturated with holes and scratches but intact.

He shook his head. They really did need a new shredder.

He was about to turn away when he noticed thatthe paperwas Tina's cell phone bill. It was old, from October, for the previous billing period, the month of August. But the number shown under the words amount owed wasn't what made him look twice.

It was a whole different number.

A/N: So there you have chapter five. Our shredder does that all the time, stupid piece of crap. Anyway as always here's your teaser: Warrick plucked the bill from the waste basket, shaking off bits of paper that clung to it. He recognized that number. He'd seen it a few times on the caller ID. He'd asked Tina who it had been and she claimed that it was just a wrong number and he'd dismissed it. But why would she be calling a wrong number, repeatedly, from her cell phone?

He got that feeling that usually preceeded a big break in a case. A hunch. And his hunches were usually right.

So I'll see ya'll next time. Same Yo time. Same Bling channel. theme song plays: nuna nuna nuna nuna YoBling! And yes, I know I'm nuts.