"Hello, can I help you?" The young female asked as she opened the door.

He grinned as he looked at the baby on her hip. "I think you can." He shook his head as if coming out of a daze. "Sorry let me introduce myself. I am Anthony B Westphalen. I am here to offer you the chance of a lifetime." He smiled charmingly.

"I'm sorry. I'm not buying anything." She said as she attempted to close the door.

"Please, just hear me out." He asked in his refined English accent. "I'm not here to sell you anything but to give you something." She looked doubtful but stayed where she was.

He smiled and opened his briefcase. "I am here to give you the chance to experience paradise." He said showing her the pamphlets he had pulled out.

Interested now she looked at the colorful pictures he presented. "I'm sorry but I don't have the money for this kind of thing."

He smiled engagingly. "Thirty minutes of your time is all that I need to make this happen."

Biting her lip she held the door open.

"I assure you ma'am. You won't regret this." He said as he entered the house.

The Lab

"Hey Nick, I'm ready to get to work." Greg said as he walked into the lounge.

Then why aren't you in the DNA lab?" Nick asked without looking up from the paper he was reading.

"Didn't Grissom talk to you?" The younger man asked as he deflated a little. "I'm going to be your assistant until everything settles down. I get to go out in the field with you and everything.

"Only if I need you and the lab comes first." Nick drawled.

"Jessup's staying overtime so the lab's being taken care of. What do we need to do first?" Greg asked bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Nothing's going on right now. Still waiting on ballistics on the Montvale case and nothing new has come in. Paper's all filed."

"So you mean we have nothing to do?" Greg asked as he flopped into a chair.

"Take advantage of the silence while you can. It won't last long." Nick advised as he sipped his coffee.

Front entrance

"Hi, I'm Sara Sidle. I'm looking for Gil Grissom." She said to the receptionist at the entrance to the Las Vegas crime lab.

"I'm sorry. Dr. Grissom is not available right now. Leave a message and I'll see that he gets it." The receptionist droned.

"You don't seem to understand. I need to talk to him immediately. I'm…" She trailed off as the other woman cut her off.

"Dr. Grissom is not available." She said firmly.

Sara turned away in frustration. Taking a deep breath she twisted back to face the dour faced woman. "Is any of his team available?" She asked in a reasonable voice.

"Nick Stokes is the only one here and I'm afraid he's busy. Leave a message and I'll see that he gets it." The receptionist droned.

Sara gave a half smile. "You don't understand. I really need to talk to him."

"I have told you that it's not possible. If you don't leave right now I'll have to call security to remove you." The receptionist threatened, looking up.

Impatient and frustrated Sara threw up her hands. "Fine." She snarled as she walked around the desk heading for the lab.

"You can't go back there." the receptionist squawked as she shot up form her chair.

Entering the front door Brass looked up at the commotion. He raised his eyebrows at the sight in front of him. "I'll take care of it." He motioned for the girl to sit back down before following Sara.

"Hey, you aren't authorized to be back here." He called out.

"Listen buddy." She started, swinging around. "I need to see Gil Grissom or Nick Stokes." She said defiantly.

Brass pursed his lips. "Sara Sidle?" He inquired, his eyes laughing.

Sara stopped, thrown off her stride. "How did you know?" She asked suspiciously.

"Jim Brass." He introduced himself, holding out his hand. "I'm a good friend of Gil's. He's talked about you."

"Anything good?" She asked dryly.

He shrugged. "Depends on your point of view." He said causing her to laugh. "You look like you've had a long day."

She shoved her hands in her pockets. "I had to fight with the airport to get back the luggage they lost."

"Did you win?" He asked steering her down the hallway.

"Eventually." Her lips twitched. "I'll probably have a hard time getting a flight home though." She waited while he laughed. "Do you know where Grissom is? I haven't been able to get in touch with him since I landed."

Brass nodded. "He had court all day." He opened the door into an office. "I think he had a dinner meeting with the DA tonight."

Sara paused in the doorway. "I take it this is his office?" She asked looking at the jars of specimens.

He turned to view the room. "He's a very strange individual but you've got to love him." He said almost to himself, missing the look that crossed her face.

"He told me that you might be in tonight. I have your pager, your id, and the keys to your Tahoe." He turned to look at her. "How did you get here tonight?"

She shrugged. "Walked." She explained as she accepted the items he handed her.

"Well all our CSI's are issued vehicles so you won't have to do that anymore." He motioned for her to follow him as he led her down the hall.

"Here we are." He said stopping before a room. "This is the DNA lab. Trace lab is down the hall there, ballistics at the back of the building. Layout room is through that door there." He instructed pointing the way to each room. "And this is the lounge. If you're ever looking for anyone this is where they most usually are." He said as he opened the door.

"Gentleman." Brass cleared his throat to catch the attention of the two occupants of the lounge.

The nerf ball hit Nick just under the eye as he turned his attention to the police captain.

"Brass, no distracting me when I'm fixing to catch the ball." He moaned as he rubbed the sore spot. He peered through bleary eyes at the other man. "What do you want anyway?"

Brass smirked. "You can come out Greg. Grissom isn't with me."

Sheepishly Greg stood up from behind the couch. "We aren't supposed to play inside."

"Well I brought you a new playmate." Brass grinned as he introduced Sara.

"Playmate indeed." Greg whistled.

Sara turned to stare at him. "Did you say something?"

"Um no." He answered gulping. He lowered himself back behind the couch.

Nick grinned. "What he meant to say was Welcome. I'm Nick Stokes and that's Greg Sanders. He's our DNA lab rat but we let him out sometimes. We really appreciate the help."

"Thanks." Sara responded as she shook his hand.

"So." He drawled. Brass rolled his eyes as he walked over for a cup of coffee. "Have you had a chance to see any of the town?"

"I just got in last night." She pointed out.

"Maybe I could show you around a little, you know after the team gets back to normal." He offered, sending her his sweetest smile.

"I don't think I'll be in town that long." She said as she turned to
Brass.

"You bombed that one." Greg said in a loud stage whisper. Sara's lips twitched as she pretended not to hear.

"Do you think Grissom will be stopping by?" She asked the detective.

Brass shrugged. "He's got court early in the morning but her we're talking about Grissom. He practically lives here."

"So you know Grissom pretty well huh?' Greg commented as he through the ball back and forth.

"We go back a long way." She answered vaguely. "So were you tow an item?" He persisted.

Sara breathed a sigh of relief as all four beepers went off.

"419" Nick read.

"That mean the same thing here as it does in San Francisco?" Sara asked.

"Only if it means dead body." Brass replied as he strode out the door.

"Saddle up people." Nick drawled. "That your kit?" He nodded to the black case in her hand. She nodded as she followed the group out the door.

Enroute to crime scene

"Greg would you calm down? You're going to make the Tahoe tip over with all your bouncing." Nick warned as he navigated the busy streets.

"I can't help it. I've been wanting to go out in the field forever." The younger man said as he moved from window to window.

"Well you're making a bad impression on the new girl." Nick advised, throwing Sara a smile.

Her lips twitched in response. "I don't know. I think it's kind of cute."

Nick rolled his eyes as Greg bounced harder on the seat. "Please don't encourage him." He strained to see through the darkness. "What's way do we go?"

"Turn a left at Page Street and go until the road ends." She recited.

"Out in the middle of nowhere." He replied as he pulled into the driveway.

"Where is everyone?" Sara asked as she looked around.

Nick shrugged. "This far out in the desert you get one newbie cop to guard the scene and that's it." He scanned the front of the house. "There he is." He pointed to the doubled over figure on the far side of the porch. "Not much is it?" He said grinning as he climbed out of the car.

Sara pursed her lips as she walked over to the officer. "I'm not trying to be mean but you didn't touch anything did you?"

Nick laughed as he listened to the officer's strangled replay. He raised his eyebrows to his new partner as Brass opened the door. Turning back he observed Greg's horrified expression.

Seeing water begin to form on his friend's white face Nick grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him off the porch.

"Breathe," he instructed as he helped the younger man into a sitting position. Greg dropped his head between his knees as he took gulping breaths.

Sara raised her eyebrows as he came back up the stairs.

"Newbie." He said by way of explanation. Together they walked to the door. Noticing that Brass had not moved they looked in over his shoulder.

"Holy cow. What kind of monsters do you have in this town?" She breathed as they stared at the horror beyond the doorway.