Hey guys, here's the next chapter. Meant to add a note to the first one saying I've taken some liberties with Lindsey's age and the timeline. The story is set around season five but as I had a three year old at the time I started this I found it easier to write Lindsey at that age.

Anyway, enjoy!

Sara Sidle screeched her car to a halt just shy of the yellow crime scene tape surrounding the majority of the diner's parking lot and jumped out, pushing her damp her out of her eyes with one hand while grabbing her kit with the other. She'd just been getting out of the shower when she'd received Grissom's call; it had taken her all of twenty minutes to dress and drive across Vegas. As she ducked under the tape she noticed Greg Sanders pulling up beside her car and clambering out, dashing to catch up with her.

"What did Grissom tell you?"

Sara shrugged. "Just that Nick had been attacked, he was on his way to the hospital and to meet you and Catherine here."

"Have you seen her yet? Maybe she knows more."

"Greg you need to take a breath. I doubt Catherine knows any more than us."

The younger man heeded her advice, inhaling deeply and trying to compose himself.

"What the hell is Ecklie doing here?" Greg had spied Catherine, deep in what appeared to be an increasingly heated conversation with the day shift supervisor.

"I don't know, but we need to get over there. Cath looks like she's about to rip his head off."

"Would that really be such a bad thing?" Greg shot back as they picked up their pace towards their colleague.

"Conrad you don't have the authority to take this case away from us so either pull on some gloves and help or get the hell out of my crime scene."

Ecklie sneered, casting a glance at Sara and Greg as they approached.

"I'm sure the Sherrif will have a few choice words on the matter. This is a clear conflict of interests." He turned on his heel, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket and missing the hand gesture Sara aimed at his back.

"Nothing like a little ass kissing to start your day," Greg called out, earning a glare from Ecklie as he ducked under the tape.

Catherine sighed and turned to her colleagues, cracking a small smile.

"Right, now that jack ass is gone let's get to work shall we?"

All three donned gloves and took a different area of the scene; Catherine opted to take the area where Nick had fallen, Greg worked the perimeter while Sara headed over to where Detective Lou Vartann was talking to the diner owner in order to get the CCTV footage from the cameras that covered the parking lot.

A few hours later the three exhausted CSIs met up at their cars, each carrying a handful of evidence bags along with their kits.

"You guys find much?" Sara queried as she loaded her bags into the trunk of her Tahoe.

"About a million full and partial shoe impressions. It'll take about a year to go through them all," Greg grumbled, heaving one of two wrapped and labelled trash cans into his vehicle. Off the brunette's look he shrugged. "Figured it would be easier to sort through them back at the lab."

"i've got what I'm hoping is Nick's baseball cap, plus other stuff that might help ID what the hell this guy hit him with. Sar?"

"Vartann and I looked at the CCTV footage; it shows Nick and Warrick leaving the diner and crossing the lot. Someone approaches from the east side, Nick turns and the guy - I'm basing that on the height and build relative to Nick - sprays something in his face. Nick goes down and the guy runs off."

"Hopefully tossing something useful into one of these bad boys as his went." Greg tapped one of the trash cans for emphasis.

"Well the sooner we get this stuff back to the lab the sooner we figure out what Nick was sprayed with, and with any luck it'll lead us to a suspect/ I'll meet you guys there."

Gil Grissom parked his car outside the Las Vegas Crime Lab and killed the engine, scrubbing a weary hand over his face. The sun was beginning to set and he had yet to go home; he'd still been in his office ploughing through paperwork when the call about Nick had come in, had headed straight to Desert Palm to meet Warrick and remained there until a short while ago. He had chosen work over heading home, wanting to check on the rest of his team and see what progress had been made.

Entering the lab he passed Judy who smiled sympathetically before handing him a stack of mail and case files. Tucking them under his arm he made his way to his office, flipping the light on and dumping the pile on his already over flowing desk. He quickly scanned through it all, noting the usual junk mail, letters from colleges - no doubt requesting lectures or seminars - until his eyes fell on a non-descript brown envelope, his name hand written on the front. Curiosity piqued he carefully opened the flap, pulling out the contents.

"Gil you're back. How's Nick?"

Dropping the envelope and what looked like a stack of papers, he diverted his attention to the woman in his doorway.

"He's stable. I left Warrick there, the doctors have flushed and bandaged his eyes and sedated him; he's in quite a bit of pain."

Catherine frowned in concern, stepping further into the office.

"Hodges is working on the swabs you sent over from the hospital. He's hoping to have the results in the next couple of hours. The CCTV footage Sara got was a bust, the guy gets totally lost in the crowds near the Strip."

Grissom sighed and closed his eyes briefly in frustration. Opening them he took in his colleague's appearance, eyebrows raising.

"Nice jumpsuit."

"Thanks, I'm about to go dumpster diving in the name of evidence collection," she quipped, pulling her hair back into a messy bun. "Care to join me?"

Grissom smirked.

"I'll meet you in the garage in ten."

A short while later Grissom was clad in an identical jumpsuit, and he and Catherine were in the garage sorting through trash. As well as the two trash cans Greg had collected, LVPD had also transported a dumpster round the corner from the crime scene back to the lab. Catherine had already searched one of the trash cans while Grissom was changing.

"Nothing useful in there, you take the other one I'm going to tackle the dumpster. Give me a boost?" She grasped the metal edge as Grissom crossed to her, gripped her waist with both hands and, while she pulled up with her arms, lifted her easily. When she was high enough she swung her legs over the edge and landed in the dumpster.

"Thanks," the strawberry blonde grinned and lowered her plastic safety goggles over he blue eyes before disappearing down into the trash.

Grissom moved to the second trash can and began to sift through the garbage. The comfortable silence they'd lapsed into was broken suddenly when Catherine's head popped above the lip of the dumpster.

"Hey Gil, I think I've found something." She hed up a half open rucksack for him to see. "It's got what looks like a can of pepper spray in it. I'll get it to Hodges when we're done here." She placed it in an evidence bag and tucked it inside her jumpsuit pocket.

A sound made Grissom pause, tipping his head to try and locate its source.

"Cath, you have your phone on you?"

Her head appeared again. "No, why?"

Grissom moved back to the trash can, reaching in and moving bits of paper and empty take out containers, noticing that the beeping sound he'd heard had grown slightly louder. He lifted a two day old newspaper out of the way and his eyes widened, scanning over the wires and plastic. They widened even further as they landed on the digital display, the number 00:06 branding itself into his corneas.

He sprinted across the room and launched himself into the dumpster, dragging a confused Catherine down with him. The lid had barely closed when the blast rang out, shattering windows and exerting enough force to tip the dumpster, propelling it backwards across the floor until it collided with the opposite wall.

Anyone who's read some of my other fics know just how much I love a cliff hanger. I promise not every chapter will have one though lol!

Lily

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