THREE

Greg had finished clearing his crime scene and was heading back to the lab. He was still wondering if Grissom had realized that he'd sent Greg out solo. Gris didn't do that often, especially since the James case. Well, things were changing. Greg began wondering about the new team member. She was a little old for him but wow, was she hot! Things were sure to be interesting for awhile.

He pulled up at the lab and headed inside. He saw Grissom in the hall. "Hey, Gris. Just got back and I have a zillion fingerprints to process. I also have the security tape and a knife that was used to threaten the clerk."

"Good Greg," as they walked along the corridor. "Let me know what you uncover." With that Grissom peeled off in another direction.

Grissom saw Nick in the break room. "Hey Nick. You back from your Bobbitt? Where's the new..ah Glyn?"

"Yeah, we're back. The guy was in pretty bad shape. He might not make it. Anyway, we collected the evidence and Glyn took the blood samples over to get it processed. We also had a couple of witness that saw the aftermath but no eyewitness to the event. She found...I mean Glyn...found some patterns in the blood and there were some towels missing from the bathroom. Didn't find a weapon or the guy's, well...uh thing. Guess he'll need a lot of surgeries to make things right….."Nick's voice trailed off and both men reacted to the thought. Don't really have much to work with yet unless the fingerprints tell us something. She's getting that checked out too. I think she's gonna be good, Gris."

"She's following up on all the evidence and you're…..what?" Grissom's eyes were scolding Nick.

"Grabbing a bite. Then I'll go help her out."

"Okay, let me know how it goes."

Grissom headed back to his office and saw her, Glyn, "got to remember her name," he thought. She was in trace talking to Hodges. He looked fascinated. Grissom stood in the doorway and listened as she told Hodges about a Bobbitt case she had worked in Dallas. "But you all have so much more to work with here," she was finishing. "I am so excited to be here on the front line of forensics."

"Excuse me," ventured Grissom. "Glyn, may I see you in my office please." He still couldn't really look at her, just in her direction. "I failed to properly indoctrinate you to the team before."

They walked to his office and as he neared his desk, he turned around. "Mind rolling up your sleeve?"

"W…. What?" she stammered. "My sleeve? Why?" She began rolling up her sleeve.

"Yeah, your sleeve. Roll it up, please." he continued as he gave the new hire her first impish Grissom smile.. "I need a pint of your blood. It's customary with all new hires"

"Whyyyy?"

"So many reasons……" he smiled and with that he drew her blood.

As she watched she wondered about this strange man. She'd read about him before taking the job but he is so much more interesting in the flesh, she thought. Her eyes focused on his face and she couldn't help but admire his good looks. His curly hair and blue eyes made quite a combination. And there was such expression in those eyes. His neatly trimmed beard gave him a rakish look; an edginess in his demeanor. She also saw strength in his face. And a great capacity for kindness. She had the feeling that he could be a very good friend or someone's worst nightmare. Right now he looked like he was in pain but trying to ignore it. She supposed that the pain had to do with Sara.

Grissom felt her assessing him. He hoped that he was masking his expression enough to provide sufficient camouflage. Here was one person, at least, that wasn't worrying about him—or worse, pitying him. "Finished. Have a seat over here, please," as he pointed to the chair near his desk. He settled into his chair and really tried to look at her. But he just couldn't. He wanted so much to look up and see Sara sitting there. "I ...I want to apologize for earlier," he stammered. "I shouldn't have called you the newbie. I understand you have some experience…..from Dallas, right?"

"Yes, but their lab isn't nearly as up to date as this one. They are good, I mean it IS Dallas and they do work very hard to provide everything….but they just don't look at forensics the same. It's my understanding that you are largely responsible for bringing this lab up to number 1?" she said.

"Well, a lot of people are responsible. But I am very proud to be a part of it." Damn, he liked her in spite of himself. "Well, I hope your first day is going okay….." he felt like he was fumbling. But he almost was able to look at her.

"Look, Gris…..is it okay if I call you that? Nick said everybody calls you that."

"Sure" he almost smiled. And he began to relax...a little.

"Well, Gris, I know you are just back from ….ah, a leave. And the first day back is always rough. And I also know that I am replacing someone who was very important to the team and everyone misses her. I know this is hard for you...all. I'm here because I'm good and I can add something to the team. It'll be awkward for everyone for a little while, I'm sure. But I really look forward to being accepted on the team and working with everyone. I know it'll take some time for me to fit in but I'm confident that eventually I will." Having said that she relaxed and smiled. The ball was in his court. She didn't know anything about this Sara except that she had been a very lucky woman to be loved so much by such a man!

"Ah...okay, well I'll let you get back to work. And...welcome to the team."

He watched as she left his office. "Damn, her tush is almost as good as Catherine's," he thought. "She might be alright after all. She'll certainly be fun to watch," he thought to himself as he turned his attention to the stack of reports on his desk.

Glyn found Nick, "the prints are running now. Blood from the walls is the victim's….no surprise there. The bloody marking on the wall consistent with the shape of a penis….no weapon and we don't have a good description of the woman running away. Nick, we've got a very angry woman out there and I'm not sure we're going to find her."

"We'll see what the prints show. Maybe review the descriptions…..maybe we can find enough similarities to at least get an idea of what the perp looks like. Sometimes, we just can't get 'em though."