Nick woke at the sound of the key in the door. He had fallen asleep on the couch with Ben on his chest; Lizzie was asleep in her bouncer on the floor.

Nick rubbed his eyes as he looked at his wife who had crept in through the door. Her eyes were red from where she had obviously been crying.

"Hey what happened?" Nick asked.

"I can't do it." She sank onto the couch next to him.

"Do what?" Nick inquired.

"Go back to work yet." She replied. "I missed them too much."

Nick couldn't help but chuckle which caused Ben to stir slightly.

"That's why you have more maternity leave." Nick pointed out.

"I know."

Nick glanced at the clock it was only 4am.

"Does Grissom know you came home?"

"Yes, I told him that I'd make you go in and finish the rest of the shift."

"Okay." Nick agreed. "I'll have to get dressed first."

"I'm sorry." Sara apologised.

"You thought you were being helpful." Nick kissed the top of her head as he gently handed her Ben. "Grissom will let you start back slowly if you want."

"I know."

"What's the case anyway?"

"Dead pirate on the pirate ship at the Treasure Island." Sara replied. "We finished processing the scene; I came home while Catherine and Warrick went to grab something to eat. They'll meet you back at the lab."

"Okay."

"You know they should be in bed."

"I guess we all fell asleep." Nick shrugged.

Sara followed him into the bedroom as settled Ben into his bassinet while Nick pulled on some pants.

"I probably won't be back until late this morning maybe this afternoon." Nick told her.

"It's okay." Sara replied before she went to get Lizzie.

CSI CSI

"Hey look it's our second Stokes of the night." Warrick joked.

"Funny." Nick replied.

"Sara okay?"

"I think she's better now she's at home." Nick answered. "What happened?"

"She was fine and then she burst into tears and said she had to go home." Warrick said.

"She saw a guy walking around trying to get his baby to sleep." Catherine explained. "Not that wandering the streets of Vegas outside a hotel is probably the best way to do that. She wasn't ready to come back yet, it's an adjustment."

"I could have told her that." Nick stated.

"It's probably best she found out on her own." Catherine pointed out. "By the time she has to come back she'll be better prepared."

"One thing I can say about all of this is I have a new appreciation for my mother."

"Having seven kids and a full time job is enough to make a saint out of anyone." Catherine agreed.

"So what's this case about? Sara said something about a dead pirate."

"One of the pirates in the Treasure Island show was knocked out and lashed to a post and literally went down with the ship." Warrick explained.

"A lot of our evidence was washed away." Catherine added.

"He's definitely one of the pirates from the show?" Nick asked.

"Yes. He apparently called in sick an hour before the performance according to the guy who runs the show."

"Obviously someone is lying." Nick stated. "What do you need me to do?"

"Why don't you go and see what Doc Robins has so far if anything?" Catherine suggested.

"You know when I was kid being a pirate sounded pretty cool." Nick commented.

"I thought you wanted to be a cowboy or a football star." Warrick counted.

"Wanted to be an astronaut too." Nick said.

"With the Pirates of the Caribbean movies I'd say a lot of kids want to be a pirate too." Catherine remarked. "But living in the middle of the desert presents a geographical problem."

TBC