DISCLAIMER: Don't Own It. No Money Mad... Purely for fun and enjoyment

RATING: M for Mature. For language and mature situations in later chapters.

A/N: I now have two betas, because another friend is incredibly impatient and didn't want to wait to read the chapters as I post them. This is because I already have written through chapter11 at this point, and am about to start12 now. But only one of my betas has the storyline outline, because I am evil that way. ;)

REVIEWS: Thanks to all who have reviewed. It's really great to get feedback like this, and is doing wonders for my joy of writing.


Chapter 5

With most of the usual suspects seated at the break room table, they were just killing time until their fearless leaders arrived with tonight's assignments. Everyone had managed to get through the turmoil of last week unscathed, but Sunday nights always seemed to bring out the bigger cases, and the weirder cases. Nick was just about to start in on his strangest Sunday case when Catherine came walking into the break room carrying the assignment slips. The thing that struck everyone was that she was alone.

They all looked behind her with the expectation of Grissom being right there on her heels when she turned around to see what they were looking, as she said, "What?"

Warrick took point on this one, "Ah, we were just waitin' for Gris… Where is he?"

"Personal matter." She had gone back to flipping through the slips of paper, and did not even look up when she spoke, "He'll be in the lab later on… But in the meantime, we have some scenes to take care of."

Nick was unable to resist, "Since when does Grissom do 'personal?'"

The group laughed it off, but Catherine noticed that Sara was visibly unsettled by the information. She decided to glaze over it in order to spare her the embarrassment. "Yeah, yeah… Catches up to all of us now and then, I guess…" Catherine looked around the room and tried to spot their lab rat turned CSI, Greg Sanders. "Where's Greg?" She gave them her patented tilt of the head to indicate her irritation.

Just as she was about to go off, Sanders came sliding into the room, "Sorry, sorry, sorry… Got stuck in Trace, and Hodges just would NOT lay off about that hottie he saw Super Dave with the other day. I think the creep is obsessed or something." Greg quickly took his seat between Sara and Nick, hoping the repercussions of his lateness would not be too severe, he quickly remembered to give Catherine a fast glance of the puppy dog eyes he was so good at giving.

"Greg, since you have such an affection for the lab right now, why don't you take the supply room and get it organized. Grissom has that on his list of slow night duties." Obviously, Catherine had built up an immunity to that trick, and Greg slumped down in his chair. "Nick you've got a B&E at a warehouse out by McCarran, so remember to vest up… 'Rick, you've got the shoot out over in your old stomping grounds… PD requested you specifically, so I imagine the scene is a little hot." Shuffling through to the last assignment, she looked up at Sara, "Since Grissom is on paperwork duty tonight, it looks like you and me are taking the possible double all the way out at the L.V. Motor Speedway." She looked around the room, and saw that everyone was ready, "Any questions?" When she saw that there were none, "All right then, let's get to it, and get back here safe."

Everyone packed up and headed out to their respective crime scenes, that is, everyone but Greg Sanders. He was walking dejectedly off to the Supply Room to get started on his punishment for the night. He decided that he was going to have to get Hodges back for this. That guy just gets on my nerves… What a weenie!

Sara was standing outside in the parking lot, waiting for Catherine to finish talking to one of the detectives before they left for their crime scene. She was still a little disappointed to hear that Grissom was having a personal life. He had been acting awfully strange lately, what with taking nights off and disappearing twice in one week. Before she could ponder it any longer, Catherine walked up and threw the keys to the Denali at her, "You drive, I have some calls to make."

Sara just shook her head and turned to get in on the driver's side, "Right… Benefits of seniority?"

Catherine was quick to join the taunting, "Benefits of Superiority." She shot Sara one of those dangerous looks, but punctuated it with a raised eyebrow, letting the younger woman know she was just pulling her chain. "Come on, let's hit the road. I want to get back in time to give Greg a little more grief." This time they both laughed as the Denali pulled away from the parking lot.

As they merged onto I-15 northbound from I-515 and headed out to the Speedway, Sara decided to break the silence that followed Catherine's phone calls, "Are they still working on Fifteen North of Craig Rd?"

Catherine looked up from the report she was flipping through and surveyed the road in front of them, "Ah, no, they finished that project last month… Now they have Losee closed off to fix the mess they made when they diverted the traffic. Makes it a real joy for me getting past all the extra side road traffic to make it in to work every night."

Sara decided to keep up the small talk a while longer, "I can imagine… I had the same trouble when they were working on the Vegas Expressway."

"Oh yeah, that was a real nightmare…" Catherine put away her report and looked at Sara a while before she decided to bust her, "So, are we done with the small talk yet? Or do you have some weather material you want to try before you get around to asking me about Gil?"

Sara visibly winced at Catherine's definitive questioning skills. "That obvious, huh?"

"C'mon… Traffic reports? Honey, you're gonna have to do a lot better than that with me." Catherine just chuckled at Sara's feeble attempt of subterfuge.

"Yeah, it was kind of a stretch… I don't know, it just seems he's been acting out of the norm lately… Do you have any idea what's up?" Sara was hoping it would appear as general concern and not the suspicious inquiry it really was.

"I know he was pretty thrown with all the stuff that happened with Nicky. And mentioned something about trying to get his life back on track or some crap… But as for tonight, he had to get someone to the airport kind of last minute. So, no big deal on that one. Just being Grissom."

"Why does that always sound like a big deal?" Sara was not sure she had said those words out loud. Not until she heard Catherine laugh.

"Because it's Grissom!"