A/N - hey guys here is chapter seven. I am glad everyone has been enjoying it so far. The reviews have been great. Given me so much confidence to keep writing this that I ended up writing until hafl 2 this morning so i could get the story finished before i went home for Christmas. There isn't a lot I can say about this chapter, it's more of a filler chapter but it is still relevant.

Seven

Left with a strange dry feeling in my mouth, much like the one you get when you've visited the dentist, after Sara had taken my DNA sample, I had little left to do but sleep. I didn't want to go home and I didn't want to close my eyes. I was afraid that I might have another nightmare but I felt physically and emotionally drained. Loss. Pain. Guilt. It was hard work feeling these things.

Eventually it must have gotten to the point where all I could do was close my eyes and sleep. The next thing I knew, the cotton swab army that was marching towards me to extract me of my entire DNA supply blurred out of focus as one of them shouted. 'I can't believe we got the guy,' and another yelled 'not so loud. We don't know it's him for sure.'

A moment of confusion later, after I realised that cotton swabs could not talk, nor was the volume anything as loud as I had taken it to be, I discovered that Nick and Warrick were sitting at the table, talking quietly between themselves.

I coughed awkwardly, trying to swallow. I must have been sleeping with my mouth open or something because it felt dry and my throat was catching. Nick stiffened and looked warily at Warrick. Yeah, I'm awake; get over it, I thought bitterly.

'Hey man how're you feeling?' Warrick asked then rolled his eyes at himself. 'I know, dumb question.'

'I'm o.k,' I said weakly, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. 'But if I never see another cotton swab it'll be too soon.'

The two men didn't reply. Just look nonplussed having not had the same random dream that I had just had.

'Any news on the case?' I asked, getting up and walking heavy-footed to the coffee machine.

No reply. They were doing that thing again where they thought it was best not to say anything. I didn't know whether to take that as a no or as a signal that the conversation the giant cotton swabs had at the end of my dream was in fact them. That would make sense. I laughed at myself. Something in the past 24 hours was actually making sense?

I put the coffee mug I had picked up back onto the counter so hard that I chipped it. Not that I cared about a stupid inanimate object like that.

'Fine, I'll go ask Sara,' I said and walked out of the room before either of them could say anything.

I frowned as I saw the man throw an arm up into the air and back down again in frustration. I didn't know who he was but something she was saying to him was not making his day judging by his wild gesticulating. I was afraid that he might hit her and debated whether or not I should intervene when she began to walk away from him.

He was an average looking guy, medium build, dark hair, navy business suit. That was the first reason I didn't like the look of him. What kind of businessman wears navy? That seemed a stupid assumption to make but it was one of those odd things that irritated me for no real reason at all. Maybe he was a lawyer – that would explain everything.

I shot out of the car so fast I didn't even realise I had removed my seatbelt as I saw Navy Suit's hand grab her arm tightly. She pulled away from him.

'What the hell do you think you're doing?' I roared, taking his arm and twisting her out of his grip. 'You keep your hands off her.'

'What's it to you, pipsqueak?'

I flashed him my badge. O.k., technically I wasn't a cop and wasn't allowed to advertise myself as one but anything with the abbreviation LVPD on the top seemed to do the trick when dealing with assholes like this one. He backed off but looked at me menacingly. The small scar above his right eye flashed red, he was clearly angry. After a few more seconds of him staring at me and me wondering whether he was going to kick my ass, he turned and ran to his car.

'What was all that about?' I asked her, out of breath.

'It's nothing, just a stupid guy I used to date, thinks I'm going to get back with him,' she said surprisingly calmly.

'Are you all right?'

'Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit surprised that's all. What are you doing here anyway, I thought you'd be at work.'

'Yeah well I took a break, thought I'd surprise you but looks like that guy beat me to it!' I quipped.

'Well thanks for coming to my rescue. My hero!' she said with a mock dramatic pose.

I stood in the hallway, not moving a muscle. My breathing became slow and deliberate and I was aware that I might explode any minute. The faces of Sara and Grissom stood close by as I stared into the face of her killer as the cop held him by the handcuffs.

I felt like I was in the Matrix, everything seemed to be so slow and surreal. I was hardly aware of my own movements. Nor did I hear the shouts of my colleagues as I pulled the weapon from the cop's holster and pointed the barrel of the gun in the face of Navy Suit.

A/N - sorryI can't help leaving chapters on the worlds cheesiet cliffhangers. I hope you all liked it anyway. Keep clicking. Chapter Eight is this way...