Cassandra- thanks for another lovely review! Yeah, the problem Sara has with Cheryl is going to get a lot worse before it gets better - great as Cheryl is, you just can't get along with everyone. I hadn't thought about H coming across, that would be a funny sight, but I don't think he'd be very helpful if he didn't have the super-powers his sunglasses gave him!

Cheryl started bobbing her head, something that was uncalled for, considering the artist, Nine Inch Nails. As per usual, her random function on the phone's mp3 player was doing exactly that – being random. Still bopping her head, she pressed the skip button, whilst examining the teeth, and waited for the next song. It came up with Mardy Bum by the Artic Monkeys. Yup, random! But it made her start dancing on the spot. And start singing along.

'Now then Mardy Bum, I see your frown, and it's like looking down the barrel of a gu-' she looked up and saw Warrick looking at her with an amused expression on his face, whilst stood next to him was Grissom, looking nothing less than confused.

She whipped her headphones out of her ears, 'hey, sorry!' She winced, 'I have a habit of doing that. I have lots of habits, actually. Most of them small and irritating. Like this. Damn it, I irritate myself.' She frowned, 'never mind.' She switched her attention back to the teeth.

'The last time there was music in the lab was Mia, I think.' Mused Warrick, 'and before that, Greg played it all the time. Albeit, it was pretty much the same genre. You, on the other hand, well.'

'I will listen to anything and everything.' Cheryl finished.

Warrick smiled and headed over to a computer. He sat down and began the process of uploading the shoe print into the computer and running the prints.

Grissom sat down opposite Cheryl and picked up the teeth. He looked over at her, as though he was about to make a profound statement. 'Did you know that George Washington had teeth made out of hippopotamus teeth. He also had teeth made out of ivory, lead, human teeth, and cow and sheep's teeth.'

Cheryl blinked, very useful. 'Did you know that a Chinese dentist had once made a tower out of 28,000 human teeth?'

Warrick chuckled from the other side of the lab, 'she got you on that one, Gris.'

'I am really, really sorry about before. I swear, I'm not normally like that. And Eddie will be gone by the end of the shift.'

'Don't worry about earlier. And keep the gosling out of the labs.'

'Oh, I will. He's staying in the break room. And I can pretty much guarantee the only thing that lazy thing will be doing, is sleeping.'

Grissom smiled and put the teeth back down. 'So, are you really the brains behind the Cocaine Procedure?'

Cheryl nodded her head. 'Did you get the short film?'

'Yes, but it wasn't you doing the demonstration.'

'Nope, that was my colleague back at Miami. I asked her to do it.'

'Why?'

'Because she has an excellent reputation as being one of the leading ballistics experts, and also because a roomful of scientists are going to take her more seriously then me, as I look like a school kid, apparently. And because I hate standing up and talking to people like that.'

'Where did the name for it come from?'

'Believe it or not, it was a computer glitch.' She looked over at Grissom's raised eyebrows and sighed, 'it was supposed to be called the Carter-Caine Procedure, but the computer messed up and called it the c'caine procedure. It stuck as that, and I decided not to bother correcting anyone.'

'Caine? As in Horatio Caine?' Asked Warrick.

'Caine, as in Raymond Caine, Horatio's dead brother.'

'Oh, I'm sorry.'

Cheryl shrugged, 'I never knew him. He died years before I found out he was my dad. In fact, I only found out Horatio was my uncle in this past year. It still seems strange calling him that.'

'You're mother never told you?' Warrick asked her.

'It's a long story, but no. She couldn't get in touch with him, and then she died.' She sighed and glanced down at the teeth.

'Oh, man, I'm sorry. I'm really putting my feet in it today.'

Cheryl shrugged. 'Don't worry about it.' She continued to clean away at the teeth, ignoring the awkwardness that was radiating from Warrick.

'What do you have on the Latex?' Grissom asked the other male, seeming to pick up on the heavy atmosphere, for once.

Warrick was flicking through a database on one of the computers, whilst waiting for the computer to spit out a match on the shoe prints. Latex is used in just about anything. From our gloves, to surgeon's gloves, to bondage suits.'

'Sounds kinky,' muttered Cheryl.

'Out of context, the latex could be anything,' Grissom told Warrick, who was beginning to show signs of frustration, 'see what the shoe print tells you, and the latex may make sense.' He left the room, leafing through a folder of paperwork.

Cheryl looked up from her teeth at Warrick, 'is he normally like that?'

'Like what?'

'Throwing out random bits of information, and comments.'

'Gris? Yeah. 'Fraid so.'

Cheryl smiled, 'he is nothing like Horatio.'

'Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?'

'Not bad, not good. Just different.' She glanced down at the teeth again. Finally, the cleaning had paid off. 'Ah ha!' She exclaimed.

'What you got there?'

Cheryl looked up; Greg was stood opposite her, holding something in a pair of tweezers. 'Greg, I usually wait a little longer before accepting a diamond of a guy. But thanks for the offer,' she told him, referring to the jewel which was glinting back at her.

'You, and Grissom… I don't need any other reason.'

'One thing you're going to realise, is that Greg's sense of humour is a required taste. Much like his dress sense.' Warrick chimed in.

'Fine, Greg, but I'm going to need that set into a ring,' Cheryl laughed. 'I'm guessing that's the missing diamond from my teeth?'

Greg nodded, 'and there's a number on the diamond. I'm running it as we speak. And there is nothing wrong with the way I dress.'

'I got partial numbers on the teeth, the identification from the dentist.' Cheryl sighed and sat back, 'the motive clearly wasn't money.'

'What makes you so sure?'

'I'm not an expert when it comes to jewels, but there has got to be several thousand dollars worth of teeth there. Ok, so, maybe you couldn't sell the diamonds easily, what with the ID number on them, but you could melt the platinum.'

'True,' agreed Greg, 'if you've gone to the trouble to kill someone, it wouldn't take much more to remove the teeth.'

Cheryl nodded and sat down at one of the computers in the lab, before typing the number from the teeth. Minutes later, the computer had kicked out eight possible matches: six from the greater Las Vegas area, one from California, and the other from Indiana. As she printed the results out Sara joined them.

'I ran a check on all 18 to 30 year old African American missing males from the last three months.'

'The vic was of African American dissent?'

'There was enough of the skull left for David to establish the race of the body. And he also aged it from the teeth.'

'Oh, I get that, I just didn't know we had a basic ID on the vic.'

'Yes, well,' said Sara, 'as I was saying, I ran a check through the Missing Persons Database. Nothing.'

'It could be that the vic was from out of state,' suggested Cheryl, handing Sara the freshly printed sheet.

Sara shook her head, 'I have Greg's results here. The diamond was sold from a store here in Vegas.'

'Alright.' Said Cheryl, 'so, we go to the store and see which dentist bought the diamonds?'

Greg nodded, 'sounds like a plan.'

'I'm driving.' Sara stated, before leaving the lab.

Cheryl shrugged, 'I'll meet you outside in a minute,' she told Greg, 'I'm just going to check on Eddie.'

Greg nodded again, and left, Cheryl going the other way. She headed to the break room. Eddie was still fast asleep on the couch. She smiled and headed back the way she came.

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

After leaving Cheryl and Greg, Nick walked off down the corridor to where Catherine was waiting for him with Archie in the AV lab. The two had already loaded the first tape and had just started watching it. 'David put TOD at around 7pm, so lets start with the activity around 6 and see if we get anything there,' Catherine was telling Archie.

Archie nodded and set the time frame to 6pm. There was nothing until 7.06pm, when a bunch of rowdy teenagers pulled up, requesting their Big Macs over a loud playing guitar band. 'Razorlight,' muttered Catherine.

'You know Razorlight?' Asked Archie, in astonishment.

'They would be Lindsay's band of the moment.' Catherine told him through gritted teeth. 'I preferred her Backstreet Boys phase.'

Nick chuckled, 'well that one clearly wasn't going to last,' he responded, watching the kids drive off. On another monitor, he saw sound waves being picked up from somewhere off camera, 'hey, Archie, can you isolate and focus in on whatever that sound is?'

Archie nodded. He began performing his usual hi-tech magic and zoomed in onto a piece of the far left hand corner of the screen. Isolating the sound, some loud rap came bursting through the speakers.

'Like takin from a ho don't know no better, I know that ain't right
Done seen people killed, done seen people deal
Done seen people live in poverty with no meals.'

'What on earth is that obnoxious sound?' Catherine exclaimed.

Nick shrugged, 'you got me.'

'Guys, there's something else in that, listen.' Archie repeated the clip of the song again. Sure enough, after the word killed, there was a muffled bang, followed by a different bang.

'Is that first one a gun shot?' Catherine asked.

'It could be part of the song,' said Nick, 'they were just rapping about seeing people killed.'

Archie shook his head and pointed at the other monitor, 'the sound signature is different, and it's definitely not part of the song.'

'Time of death is 7.11.' Said Catherine. 'Is there anything else on there?'

Archie let the tape run. After the second bang, the music dropped in volume, to be replaced by a roaring engine and the squeal of brakes. He replayed it, isolating the sound of the engine. 'Identify the car, and you've got a suspect.'

'How are we going to do that? It could belong to one of a thousand cars.' Exclaimed Catherine.

'A car with a V8 engine. If that helps narrow it down.'

Nick turned around and found Cheryl stood in the doorway, looking like she was considering whether speaking up was a good idea. 'You know engines?'

'I did a mechanical engineering degree. Loved it. I love cars. I probably know too much about them, I spent a few years living and breathing them. I even patented my own engine.'

'You thing you could narrow it down any further than a V8 engine?' Catherine asked her.

Cheryl frowned, 'you're not going to comment on how a girl knows so much about engines?'

'Not if you can identify it,' Catherine told her, putting her arm around her and leading her into the room.

'That's,' Cheryl paused, 'that's refreshingly different.' She looked at Catherine, 'I'm sorry, I'm not normally this bad with names.'

'Catherine. And this is Archie,' she told her, pulling out a seat next to the lab tech and sitting Cheryl down next to him.

Nick watched as Archie rewound the tape to the beginning of clip. Again, their ear drums were assaulted to the sound of rap. He frowned as Cheryl cocked her head. 'What?' He asked her.

'The song. It won an Oscar, the other night. It's Hard out Here, for a Pimp, I think. I don't remember who sung it.'

'I think I am more amazed you know that, rather than what car it is.'

'I haven't identified the car yet, and I only know because I was listening to the Oscars as I drove here.' She shut her eyes and listened to the engine rev. 'Can you play it again?' Archie did as she asked, 'I'm going to say it's a Jaguar. And judging from the tinny sound, I'd say an XK. A new one. The engine doesn't sound broken in yet.'

'Are you sure?' Catherine asked her.

'Designer labels, shoes, make-up, all the girly things; not a clue, but engines and cars, yeah.'

'A mechanics expert,' muttered Catherine, 'a female, mechanics expert. Welcome to Vegas.'

Cheryl smiled at the group then excused herself, muttering something about catching up with Sara before she left her behind. Nick returned his attention to Catherine and Archie. 'Can you get us anything else off that?' Nick asked Archie.

'I don't think so. I can try seeing if I can get some reflections, but it's going to take some time.'

'Thanks, Archie,' said Catherine. 'Come on, Nick. We'll see if we can get anything off those prints and come back later.'

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

Cheryl found herself once again sat in the back of the truck, although this time, Greg had managed to keep his place in the front. Whilst he was busy flicking through the radio stations, trying to find a tune he liked, Cheryl decided to take the opportunity to return her calls from her uncle. There was only so long she could keep the shades hidden.

'Caine.'

'Hi Horatio, it's me.'

'Cheryl, I have been trying to reach you for a while.'

'Yeah, sorry; I was busy in the morgue, and didn't have my phone with me, and then I got a little involved with my case. I'm in a car at the moment, but I figured I should call you and let you know where your sunglasses are.'

'Cheryl, that's not why I've been calling you.'

Cheryl frowned, 'is everyone alright? Nothing's happened, has it?'

'That's what I wanted to ask you. I had a phone call a while ago from a detective in Las Vegas. She was trying to track down the owner of your house. There's a dead body?'

'A bathtub full of decomposing slush is a more accurate description, actually.' She snorted.

There was silence from the other end, but Cheryl knew he was probably just nodding his head, 'I suspected that was the case. I got in touch with my realtor. She thinks she can get you out of the contract, and by lunchtime your time, she should have gotten back to me on some available properties for you.'

'Horatio, you don't need to be doing that. I can handle it.'

'Nonsense, Cheryl. I was the one who found that house for you in the first place. The last thing you need to be doing on your first day is trying to find somewhere to live. Leave it to me.'

'Thank you, Horatio. I appreciate it.'

'No worries. You just make sure you don't get yourself shot. I don't want another call from Las Vegas bringing me bad news.'

'I can assure you that I'm not exactly looking out for that one. It's not my fault I'm a walking bullet magnet.'

'Cheryl.'

'Seriously, I'm going to be careful.'

'I'll speak to you later.'

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

Sara watched Cheryl in the rear view mirror as she had her conversation on the phone. Much to Sara's annoyance, Greg was fiddling with the radio that much, that she was only able to catch snippets of the conversation. Cheryl could handle something, and something wasn't her fault. Well, whatever it was, it sounded suspicious. If only Greg would just stop fiddling. 'Greg, quit it!' She snapped at him, finally, hitting the power button.

Greg snatched his hand away and stared at her. Sara glanced back in the mirror. Cheryl had hung up the phone and was looking back at her. She gave her a small smile, but Sara ignored it, returning her attention to the road. Something about this girl wasn't adding up, and she was going to work it out, before the shift was over.

Sara pulled the truck to a stop outside a small jewellery store, pulled the parking brake on, and jumped out of the truck, slamming the door behind her.

'Hi guys.' Sara glanced back. Sofia had appeared and was walking over to the other two who were just getting out of the car. Great - another blonde bimbo, to add to the already infuriating pair.

She let out a small growl of irritation and walked into the store and up to the counter. Thankfully, despite the small size, the store, like the rest of Vegas, operated on a twenty-four hour basis. The sooner she could find out who had bought the diamonds, the sooner they could get back and she could do some research.

Well guys and gals, thanks for continuing to read - I hope your enjoying it (feel free to let me know!)
Keep on reading. There's still a lot more to come. Fresh blood, a confrontation, hopefully a little bit of humor,and more than two 'couples' getting a little closer. I'll be updating soon!

Ax