Author's Notes

Sorry for making you guys wait, I was away for a few days having a wonderful Pamper Break. I actually intended to make this a longer chapter, but I thought since it's already been a week since chapter one, it would be better to get what I've written so far online quickly. Thanks for everyone's reviews, I'm glad you enjoyed the first installment and I hope you enjoy this one too.

----------------------------

Greg came into the dorm-room-turned-crime-scene breathless from running up the stairs. "Grissom, look what I found in the dumpster!" He held out a plastic bag containing a blood-soaked glove.

Grissom reached for the bag, and then paused reluctantly, glancing over at Sara. She looked back without speaking, their eyes meeting in silent communication. Greg caught the looks, and squirmed uncomfortably.

"Just give it to him, Greg. I have to get to an autopsy." Sara rose from where she had been examining the site previously occupied by the younger boy's body. As she left she nodded to Brass, who was re-entering the room after interviewing Michael Ruley and the other occupants of the dormitory.

Grissom took the bag off Greg, and held it up to the light, examining the glove inside. It was white, and the red blood seemed to be predominantly on the palm, which concurred with Grissom's earlier theory that the older brother had tried to stand up after being shot, and been pushed back to the ground. "This is good, Greg."

"Yeah." Greg fidgeted for a second longer, then said "I'm gonna, um, go back to my search" and left.

Brass, alone with Grissom for the first time that day, stood looking at him for a second, then said, "So, are you going to tell me about it yet?"

"About what?"

Brass sighed. "Grissom…"

Grissom looked away for a second, then turned back to face him. "I've been demoted. Temporarily."

"Ecklie?"

"Who else?"

"And he put Sara in charge? One of your own team?"

"She can do the job."

"Yeah, cos you really expect me to believe you don't care. She's your subordinate, Grissom… or was, until today." Brass shook his head. "And Sara…"

"Why should Sara be any different than Sophia?"

Brass just looked at him incredulously, and then shook his head for a second time.

----------------------------

A few hours later.

"Sara?"

Sara looked up from the evidence she had been processing to see Sophia standing at the end of the table. She felt strangely relieved that it was her; Sophia wasn't by any means her favourite person in the world, but with everyone in the lab having an opinion on the current situation – even if it wasn't expressed through their words, she could see in their faces – it was comforting to see someone whose opinion she didn't actually care about. Also, Sophia had been through a demotion herself, and probably knew that neither Grissom nor Sara particularly wanted to talk about it.

"How's your case going?"

"Suicide. I found a note; prints belonged to the deceased, same for those on the gun. No evidence anyone else had been in the house for weeks."

Sara nodded, glancing down at the evidence laid out on the table beneath her. "Then if you're not busy, I could probably use your help here."

"Sure. What do I need to know?"

As Sara went over the details of the case with her, Sophia noted how stressed she looked. Not that surprising really, considering. For her own part, Sophia was thankful that she hadn't been chosen for the position, despite the fact that it indicated that Ecklie was still punishing her. She liked Grissom, and he had been so kind after her own demotion that she had no desire to profit from his.

Okay, so I'm not sure 'profit' is the right word. Sara's obviously taking it pretty badly. I think maybe she's more angry about all this than Grissom is.

----------------------------

"Hey Cath."

Catherine Willows glanced up from the crime scene photographs she had been staring intently at for the last twenty minutes or so to see Sara standing at the entrance to her office. It was nearly a full hour before the night shift was due to start, and Catherine had a suspicion that Sara had come in early with the particular intention of speaking to her privately.

"Hey Sara. How did last night go?"

"Kind of tense."

Cath nodded. "What do you want?"

"Advice. I haven't exactly had experience or training at being a supervisor… and I can't really ask Grissom."

Catherine gestured to a nearby chair. "Sit down."

----------------------------

A/N: Still haven't decided what Grissom did. Any suggestions?