Author's Notes

I'm afraid this chapter's pretty short… and I'm sorry for taking so long. Bit of writer's block I suppose. I do at least know what I'm going to write for the next chapter - it should really be part of this one, but since I've left you for so long, I thought you'd like what I've already written to keep you going…

Thank you to x-sara-x for giving me a bit of inspiration for what to write.

Oh, and I just thought I should clear up when this story's set in case anyone's wondering - it's basically at the end of season 5, but Grave Danger didn't happen (because it would mess up the story way too much).

As always, please read & review.

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"Hey, how was graveyard?"

Nick's expression as he turned around to look at her made her heart sink down to her knees. "Okay, what happened?"

Seeing his friend having a little trouble answering, Warrick decided to come to his rescue. "Nick and some of the guys had a dispute with Ecklie."

Catherine's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

Sensing that her gaze was fixed firmly on him, Nick managed to give her a stumbling rundown of the confrontation. "…and Ecklie was really mad, and then Sara turned up, and she was mad too…"

"And you're in today? You're not on suspension? Wait, you weren't demoted were you? You are still a level three? But then, Ecklie would have contacted me…"

"I'm not demoted. Or suspended. Sara just made us apologise to Ecklie."

Catherine just stared at him for a while before speaking again. "Okay, I… I'm not even going to try to tell you what the consequences of this could have been, because I'm sure you know. But I have to say, if it had been me not Sara, I wouldn't have been anywhere near so lenient."

"I know Cath, and I'm sorry, we all are. None of us meant for Ecklie to overhear, or for it to escalate like that." He sighed, shook his head. "I guess I'd better try and make it up to Sara, as well."

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"Hiya Catherine."

She turned at the sound, studied the woman standing in the entrance to the break room. "Sara, hi. Heard you had a lovely time this morning."

Sara sighed. "How do you do it Cath? How do you combine being somebody's boss with being their friend? I was so angry at them this morning… still am, actually… and I knew I couldn't just let them get away with it… but at the same time, Nick and Greg are my friends, and if I hadn't been their supervisor…"

"You'd probably have been in trouble with them?"

"Yeah."

"Off the record: so would I. I can't exactly count on one hand the amount of times I've wanted to tell Ecklie exactly what I thought of him, and now, with Grissom demoted… Still, Nick and the rest were way out of line, and you definitely let them off far too easily."

Sara nodded. "I know. Ecklie probably thinks so too. But we're short-staffed enough as it is without suspending anyone – I mean, that's why Grissom's demoted instead of suspended in the first place – and… I'm only a supervisor temporarily. A few weeks time, I've got to go back to just being their friend and colleague. What should I have done? How do you discipline your friends?"

"I don't think there's an easy answer to that, Sara." Catherine paused, then grabbed her coat. "Come on. I'm taking you out."

"Wh-what? Where are we going?"

"We're going to relax. You're way too stressed, and my back's hurting from crouching down for hours collecting evidence. Your shift doesn't start for a while yet, and I didn't take a break, I can justify leaving early."

Sara frowned, following her co-worker down the corridor. "So where are we going?"

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Question:

Does anyone happen to know if Ecklie's married?