Ovarian Grievance

Pairing: Sara and Nick

A/N: This is based loosely on what happened to me almost ten months ago.

Sara has been cleared to return to the field. Nick has a very special surprise for her.

A/N2: I am sorry for delaying the posting of this chapter. I was working on cleaning my manuscript and preparing it to be published. (If I didn't mention in a past chapter, I had lost that contest I had entered.) I recently started a new semester. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten my fan fiction work. I will find a balance between my classes, fan fiction and my original writing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Sara, Nick or any other CSI character. If I did own the show, the final scene from 'Way to Go' wouldn't exist and the show would have beaten 'Gray's Anatomy'. I only own my original characters and this story plot.

Back in the Field

Sara survived the next few weeks in the lab. She had gone to both of her post surgical follow up exams. Dr. Calabrese cleared her to return to field work on the second visit. She passed the medical exam given by another doctor. For some reason, Hodges managed to survive the time that Sara was sentenced to lab duty. Ecklie was a hell of a lot nicer to Sara than the time she told him off. On those occasions, Sara wondered if she should have stayed home a week or two longer.

Nick spent one night a week in the lab with Sara. He didn't like to be out in the field without her. Sure, working with Warrick, Grissom, Catherine and/or Greg was okay, but he missed the presence of his favorite brunette there.

The day before Sara was slated to return to fieldwork, Nick was working with Catherine on a 419 near Henderson. As they were on their way to the crime scene, she looked at Nick who was staring into space.

"Nicky, what's the matter?" Catherine asked.

"I'm thinking about Sara's first day back in the field," Nick sighed. "She has been eager to return."

"I saw her nearly take poor Archie's head off for not looking that surveillance footage last week," she chuckled. "He was probably terrified of any future run-ins he may have with her."

"Nah, Archie's cool," he reassured his partner of the night. "I had seen them talking calmly in the break room. He knows that she is tired of being cooped up in the lab."

"Did Sara manage to wring Hodges' neck?" she asked.

"There were times that she wanted to," he laughed. "However, Ecklie walked past by and Sara didn't want to get in trouble. That son of a bitch couldn't stop her thoughts about doing it though."

"They will be safe tomorrow when she returns to the field," she smiled.

The Next Day

Nick, Warrick and Sara's Crime Scene

"Hey girl, welcome back to the field!" Warrick smiled as he pulled Sara into a hug.

"Bro, that's my fiancée you are hugging!" Nick chuckled.

"Nick, don't get jealous," Sara wanted to slap him for acting so possessive.

"I was joking!" Nick protested. "Warrick can give you friendly hugs."

"Guys, stop playing silly games and start processing the crime scene!" Jim Brass' voice boomed.

Sara looked at Brass and he looked back. He approached her and gave her a fatherly embrace.

"It's good to have you back in the field, Sara," Brass smiled. "How are you feeling?"

"Good to be back!" Sara beamed. "I am feeling a lot better, but I get the occasional twinges in the incision area."

"It's healing," Brass reassured her as she nodded in understanding.

"What do we have here?" Warrick asked as he cleared his throat.

"We have a decomp," Brass frowned.

"Are you joking?" Nick asked.

"Does it look like I am kidding?" Brass countered with another question.

"Not by the smell of it," Sara winced.

"This young woman was jogging when she saw a suitcase that seemed to be abandoned," Brass explained as he walked with the three young CSIs. "When she noticed a foul odor, she called us."

"Did you open the suitcase?" Sara asked the young woman.

"I was tempted to see what was inside," she answered. "When I got closer, I noticed this disgusting stench and I back away. I knew that it was a police matter, so I called you."

"You did the right thing," Nick said. "Let us take care of it."

Sara, Warrick and Nick went to work processed the crime scene. They collected everything from leaves to hairs to unknown fibers. Sara took notes and photos as Nick and Warrick took some measurements for the sketch. She also dusted the suitcase for prints and lifted whatever she could find. Warrick noticed a very pristine footprint and made a plaster cast of it. It was a few minutes before David Philips showed up to bring the body to the morgue.

"Sara, it's a great surprise to see you out doing fieldwork," David smiled. "I'm so used to seeing you in the lab since you returned from your surgery."

"I'm just glad to be out here than having to wait for evidence to process," Sara giggled. "There are plenty of lab techs that are happy to have me back out in the field."

"Sara, that isn't true," Nick corrected her. "Our fellow graveyard shift criminalists are also glad to have you doing fieldwork."

"Well, I know one who extremely ecstatic to see me here," Sara winked at him.

David carefully placed the suitcase on the stretcher and took it to the morgue. Nick, Sara and Warrick finished processing the scene. Brass had completed his questioning of the young woman who found the stinky suitcase and the officers that were first on the scene. Nick and Sara brought the collected evidence to their Denali and left for the crime lab. Warrick put his kit in his Tahoe and left to join his friends at the lab. The crime scene was still sealed and a cop was guarding.

When Warrick, Sara and Nick joined David at the morgue, he warned them when it came time to open the suitcase to breathe through their mouths. Right now, he was scanning the baggage with a fluoroscope to look for remains and anything else. He, along with the three criminalists, saw a male skeleton, two books, badly degraded backpack, a baseball cap, jeans and a mesh shirt. They went to the 'VIP' room to explore the John Doe further. As soon as David opened the case, the stench was overwhelming. The CSIs breathed through their mouths as instructed. David helped them catalogue the personal effects.

Brass was in the interrogation room of the police department with a man who reported his 16 year old son missing five months ago. None of the boy's friends had last seen him since a home basketball game against North Las Vegas. He also mentioned that he had two daughters in college and graduate school who were also worried about their little brother. Nick entered the room with a photo of the suitcase.

"I was looking for that for five months!" the man gasped. "Where was it?"

"We found it near a wooded area," Nick replied. "Did you kill your son, stuff his body into the suitcase and dump it there?"

"No, I loved my son and would never do something like that," he was on the defensive and paused for a moment. "I just remember that my wife, his stepmother, told me that she planned on going on a business trip and needed the suitcase. I didn't think much of it at the time since she needed the baggage. When I had to go to my annual medical conference, I couldn't find my luggage so I had to buy a new one. What do you know about this? Was he killed, stuffed and dumped?"

"I am going to need a sample of your DNA," Nick said. "I just need to compare it to the decomp found."

"Sure, go right ahead," the man huffed.

Nick swabbed the lining on the man's mouth and brought to Wendy. He told her to compare it with the tissues collected from the remains. Some time later, the results came and Nick went back to the interrogation room.

"I am sorry," Nick shrugged. "Your son was in that suitcase. Half of his DNA matched with half of yours."

The man broke down and cried inconsolably. At the same time, Sara and Officer Metcalf were in another interrogation room with a young woman. She had an evil grin and sat with her legs crossed. She took out a cigarette and put it in her mouth. She proceeded to take out her lighter.

"Ma'am, there's no smoking allowed here," Sara hissed as she grabbed the cigarette and lighter from her.

"Can I go outside to smoke?" the woman asked with a whine.

"No, you are being arrested for murdering your stepson," Officer Metcalf was about to handcuff her.

"Why did you do it?" Sara asked.

"I wanted my husband all to myself," the young woman replied proudly and without remorse. "That stupid punk was in the way. He was my competition for his dad's attention. I don't have to worry about his sisters since they have their own lives. I was fed up with his whining, so I shut him up permanently."

"Officer Metcalf, take her away," Sara shouted.

After the arrest, Sara left the room and joined Brass, Nick and Warrick. They watched as the victim's handcuff clad stepmother was taken away. Her astonished husband could only look at her. He left the police department in a daze/

"Don't the three of you have to shower with lemons?" Brass asked after taking a whiff of the CSIs.

"Yeah, we need it," Sara smiled. "I think anyone who was in contact with that body needs a lemon shower."

Brass just looked at her and chuckled.

"Come on, Sunshine," Nick smirked. "Let's go!"

When Nick, Sara and Warrick arrived at the crime lab, there were lab tech avoiding them due to the decomp odor. They went to the showers with copious slices of lemons in tow.

As Sara felt the water and lemon juice touch her skin, she smiled. Although her first night back in the field was disgusting, it was great to be there. Sometimes she couldn't work with Nick, but she promised herself to enjoy and cherish whatever comes her way with or without Nick.

THE END