A/N – Hi. I really hope chapter one was enough to spark you interest in this chapter. This one is slightly more eventful although I don't want to say much more before you read it. See you at the end LOL!

PS – apologies if any of the legal stuff I mention in this chapter is inaccurate – I'm not a lawyer so don't sue me! Sorry my jokes don't get better I'm afraid.

Chapter Two

'Hi Greg,'

Grissom acknowledged me briefly as he scooted past me, down the hallway and into the small domain over populated with entomological paraphernalia that he liked to call his office.

Continuing on my way, only half processing what I was doing, I bumped into Warrick heading in the opposite direction to myself.

'Oops, sorry,' I muttered.

'Hey Greg, how's it going?'

If I had a dollar for every time I had been asked that question…

'Fine, I guess, as well as anyone who ever had to come and work the most unsociable hours known to man,' I said back, sarcastically.

'Ah, you know you love it man,' Warrick replied.

I resisted the urge to say I loved every second of it, especially the moment where I stumbled across my own personalised crime scene complete with a dead girlfriend.

'Hey, either of you guys know where I can find Sanders?' a loud abrupt voice I didn't recognise interrupted from behind me.

The finger Warrick pointed at me was met with a roll of my eyes before I turned to face the owner of the voice. A shock of purple and black hair was the first thing I noticed followed by a brown envelope that was unceremoniously pushed in my face.

'This was dropped off for you at the front desk,' was the casual explanation that accompanied the envelope.

'Wow, careful, you could have someone's eye out with that.' I complained jokingly.

'Dude, relax, I never heard of anyone dying from a paper cut,' she shot back.

'This is Vegas, anything could happen,' Warrick interjected, matter-of-factly.

'Whatever,' was the disinterested comeback before she did a one eighty and returned back down the corridor the way she came.

My gaze followed her for a second or two as she strutted down towards the front of the building and then disappeared around a corner.

'Who the hell was that?' I asked, only half-intending to say it out loud.

'Beats me,' Warrick said with a shrug. 'What's with the envelope?'

Glancing down at the envelope I spotted the name and address of the sender, instantly recognising it as the law firm that was representing the man who had been arrested for her murder. The firm that was trying to stop him from going to prison. Trying to ignore the increase in my temperature as my blood pressure rose, I opened the envelope and pulled the letter out, scanning the words quickly.

'Assholes!' I cursed aloud and scrunched up the paper.

'Bad news?' Warrick asked.

The look I gave him must have both answered his question and given him the cue to leave. He held his hands up in defence and walked casually away. I unfolded the letter from the curled up ball I had turned it into and re-read it.

Exhaling a heavy sigh, I turned and walked solemnly into the break room. Sara looked up from the case file she was reading and gave me a small smile as I sat down in a chair and threw the envelope and the letter down onto the table.

'Greg, are you all right?'

Apparently remaining silent after being asked a question like that was not the best possible way to keep someone out of your business. Sara was by my side in an instant, her face not contorted with concern but decorated with a purposeful but soft glare that indicated that she wasn't going anywhere without an answer.

'What's that?' she asked giving a curt nod of her head towards the rather limp looking letter I held in my hands.

'Nothing.' My reply was both instinctive and dishonest, a façade that Sara instantly saw through.

'Come on Greg, I spend my days with some of the most dishonest people in Vegas, you think that's going to shut me up?' she said lightly.

'I wish something would.' I said bitterly without thinking.

Again it seemed, silence spoke louder. Sara drew away from me. I tried to think of something I could say to take back my harsh and unwarranted outburst. Instead, the silence continued like it had deliberately invited itself into our conversation and refused to allow anyone else to speak. Sara quietly collected the files and her coffee mug together before walking towards the door.

'Sara, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to –' I began stabbing at a distant hope of rectification.

'Forget it. Next time I'll mind my own business.' She said before leaving the room. The lack of tone in her voice was confusing. I wasn't sure whether she was immensely angry with me or if she was trying to be constructive. Unless removing my privilege to confide in her was her way of punishing me for hurting her feelings. Maybe it would be easier if she were a guy. Maybe then she would have just told me where to shove it and left me knowing where I stood.

'What's your beef with her?' a familiar casual voice interrupted my musings over the emotional responses of the female of the species.

Looking up I saw the same black hair, streaked with purple. She wore a curious smirk on her face as she leant against the doorframe, arms folded.

'I don't see what that's got to do with you,' I replied sharply.

'Ooh, do you just have a beef with all women, is that it?' I couldn't work out whether she was taunting me or not.

'How long have you been standing there?' I asked.

'I don't see what that has to do with you,' she was mocking me now.

My patience was beginning to become strained and I wasn't entirely sure why I was still talking to her.

'It has everything to do with me when you're eavesdropping on my conversations,' I pointed out feeling mildly victorious that I had brought this to her attention.

She shrugged her shoulders 'I'll give you that, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been listening in. I was just standing outside, I didn't want to interrupt.'

'Oh, thanks,' I said starting to feel a little foolish for being so rude towards her when I barely knew her and snooping hadn't been her intention.

She wandered over to the coffee pot and took a look inside as though she were examining the contents to make sure it was consumable.

'It's not cyanide,' I said, helpfully, smiling a little to myself.

She looked back at me raising a disapproving eyebrow at my poor attempt at a joke as she poured herself a drink.

'I'm Alanis by the way,' she said, sitting down opposite me and placing her mug on the table.

'As in Morrisette?' I asked with a smile.

'Yeah, well noticed,' she said, sarcastically.

'That's kind of ironic,' I shot back

She rolled her eyes in exasperation as my comedy routine clearly wasn't improving and took a gulp of her coffee.

'So, really, what's your beef with what's her name?' she asked again.

'Nothing, she was just trying to help I guess,' I shrugged feebly and looked down at the letter.

'With this?' Alanis asked, pointing at the paper.

I nodded.

'And this would be..?' she asked looking at me for clarification.

'A court summons from the defence attorneys to testify in a murder case,' I said surprised at how easily the words came out.

'Your first time in court?'

I shook my head, starting to feel uncomfortable. I wasn't really prepared to divulge any more details to her. She was after all, practically a stranger.

'So why is it such a big deal?' she asked sounding puzzled.

I ran my hands over my face and took a deep breath in before exhaling slowly. I began to fidget nervously with edge of the paper and I looked down, avoiding her eyes as if by saying it without being able to see her face would be like I wasn't saying it at all.

'The victim was my girlfriend.'

I expected silence, some kind of awkward projection of condolence. Instead she instantly came back with a response that I would never have predicted.

'Dude, that has to suck.'

A/N – Hello again! Told you I'd be back. Alanis might come across as an insensitive bitch but things will become clearer later and I felt that a little comedy was well deserved given the crap I put Greg through in the last story (listen to me, talking as if I know him!). I'm going to take my medication now and ration my CSI DVD viewing for a while given that I appear to be obsessed and my author notes are starting to become longer than my chapters. I never did know when to shut up…!