Renee slowly blinked herself awake, yawned hugely. She liked getting up with Nick when he came home in the mornings, and tried to get work down, but this morning that just wasn't happening. Stretching her neck, Renee went to lift her arms above her head and then she saw it: the hairy devil-beast from the tank had escaped and decided to nest on her shoulder.

Shiloh recognized the light in the woman's eyes. All she could think was Oh, mother damn, big mistake.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Renee screamed at the top of her lungs. She leapt out of her chair, sending Shiloh flying off of her arm. "NICK!"

Renee raced into the bedroom, threw herself across Nick's body as she all but burst into tears. She didn't care if she woke him up; she needed her big strong Texan to hold her.

"Nick, wake up!"

Nick peeled open an eyelid, pulled out an earplug. "What is it, honey?"

"That- that-that thing," Renee spluttered, "is loose!"

"What thing?"

"That demon creature of Grissom's! I fell asleep at the computer and it escaped! It was sitting on my arm!"

Nick winced at the sharp shrill of her voice. He'd never heard her like this, and he could see she was dangerously close to tears. "What?"

"NICK! THAT GOD-DAMN THING ESCAPED AND WAS GOING TO BITE ME!"

It took him a moment to realize she was talking about Shiloh; when this registered, he realized what exactly had happened. Renee was deathly afraid of spiders and Shiloh had probably gotten out. Sitting up, he pulled his girlfriend close, hoping to soothe her.

"It's okay baby."

"You're not babysitting any more of Grissom's pets. I don't care how that sounds, but I mean it. I shouldn't have to feel this terrified in my own house."

"I know sweetie." Nick kissed her forehead, then got up out of bed, padded into the kitchen where he found the spider sitting near the keyboard of Renee's laptop. He held out a hand, waited patiently for the tarantula to crawl onto his palm. When Shiloh did so, Nick held her to eye level.

"Listen, I know you probably like to explore in Grissom's house, but you and I had this little talk earlier, remember?"

Had she been able to, Shiloh would have been crying great big tears of remorse that she'd scared the pretty lady so badly. Instead she lifted one of her legs and gestured to the computer.

When Nick turned his head and saw it, he smiled. Only Grissom could have trained a spider to type, he thought as he read the words, I did not mean to scare the lady, I thought she was hurt. I am sorry on the screen.

"Well that's very sweet of your Shiloh, but even so you have to stay in the tank."

So saying, Nick deposited her back in the terrarium and made sure he secured the lid. When he went back to the bedroom, he saw Renee there trembling with fear.

"Is she back in her cage?"

"Yes. And she apologized for scaring you too."

"Cute."

"She did."

"Okay, Nick." Renee sighed, leaned her forehead against his bare shoulder. "I'm sorry I woke you up."

"Nah, it's fine. Makes me feel all manly when you get scared like that."

"You're a sick, sick man."

"And you love me."

"Yeah I do."

Later in the afternoon, Shiloh sat in her tank, watching Renee work at her computer, and about every five seconds, Renee would look over to make sure that Shiloh was still in her tank. Shiloh had pressed her legs up against the glass in order to lean closer and figure out what Renee was working on. Then suddenly, Renee stopped her typing, got up and grabbed the tank, holding it at eye level.

"Listen, you scary little spawn of Satan, I'll make you a deal. No more Houdini like tricks and you can sit by me in the tank on the couch okay? That way I can keep an eye on you until Nick gets home."

Since the spider couldn't nod, Renee took the taps on the front of the glass to mean an assent. Holding the glass container like it was a bomb, Renee transported it to the couch where she placed it on one end of the couch, grabbed the remotes and parked herself on the next cushion over. As she flipped through the channels, she heard an incessant tapping on the glass when she came to an episode of Friends. Renee looked down at the bad-ass bug.

"What? You want to watch Friends?"

Another bout of incessant tapping ensued.

"Okay."

Shiloh kept a couple of her eyes on the screen and a few more on Renee. Perhaps she wasn't as scared as Shiloh thought she might be. Then she turned around when she heard Nick come in, and he sat between Shiloh and her new friend. He gave the glass a friendly tap and wasn't disappointed when the tarantula pressed a hairy foot up against his fingertip.

"Grissom called you, Shi. His conference was cancelled and he's going to be home early to pick you up tonight."

"Aw do I have to go back home so soon," Renee said in a squeaky voice behind him, pretending to speak for the spider.

Nick turned around and grinned at her. "I thought you couldn't wait to get rid of the 'demon-creature'."

"Eh, maybe she's not so bad."

Impressed, Shiloh suddenly found her thoughts turning to Sara.

Maybe I should give her a chance, like Renee gave me.

With this in mind, Shiloh patiently waited with her new friends for her boyfriend and his human girlfriend to come home.