A/N: I know this took forever and I'm sorry. I had a lot going on with driver's ed and trying not to kill anyone. I had this finished yesterday, but the website wouldn't let me upload it. Here's chapter twelve.

The Antics of Lindsey Willows

Chapter 12

Catherine walked into the lab carrying several evidence bags. She poked her head in a few rooms searching for Sara. They were supposed to go over the evidence together. She walked straight past the break room, but Sara was inside and jumped up to meet her.

"It's one a.m.; what took you so long?" the brunette asked.

"Las Vegas never sleeps, my friend; traffic was terrible." Catherine shifted the load in her arms and moved to continue down the hall.

"Have you heard from Nick lately?"

"No, but he's out getting a suspect for Grissom's case isn't he?"

Sara nodded, but something about it told Catherine that wasn't enough. She looked at her friend sympathetically.

"Sara, don't worry; these things sometimes take a long time. I'm sure he's fine. We would've heard if he wasn't."

"You're right. I don't know what my problem is."

"Sure you do. You love him and the fact that you don't know where he is at this very moment shakes you to your bones. I know the feeling."

"Oh you do?" Sara said, suddenly taking interest in her colleague's personal life.

Catherine chuckled. "Yes, I do, but we're not discussing that now, are we?"

Sara looked like she was ready to address this statement, but Catherine stopped her.

"Come on; we have some evidence to deal with. Shift's starting to smell like a double and I really want to keep it from being a triple if you don't mind."

Catherine collapsed on the couch as soon as she made it home that morning. She had just dozed off when the shrill ringing of the kitchen phone woke her.

"Hello?" she mumbled.

"Oh, you were sleeping. Sorry."

"Lindsey? What are you doing calling me from school?"

"I just wanted to make sure you got a chaperone lined up. I'm passing out invitations."

Catherine rubbed her eyes. "And you couldn't wait until you got home from school?"

"No. You'd probably be asleep then."

"I was asleep now."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Just don't do it again. And yes, I do have someone."

"Who?" Lindsey braced herself for the answer, hoping it would be someone good.

"Warrick."

"Yes!" She quickly composed herself. "I mean, oh, that's cool. Nice choice, Mom."

"Thanks," said Catherine, "I'm going to go to sleep now, okay? Wake me when you get home."

"You got it."

They hung up the phones and went back to their respective lives.

Lindsey crept into her house quietly that afternoon. She had notes stuffed in her pockets from four of her six teachers complaining that she was too hyper that day. The girl planned on forging the signatures. She didn't want to risk Catherine taking away the party. Lindsey had a good reason for being hyper; her mother had picked the perfect person to be the chaperone for her party. Now she was one step closer to getting them together.

She walked lightly to the couch and gently shook her mother's shoulder. Catherine opened her eyes and saw her teenage daughter staring down at her.

"Hey there, how was the rest of school?"

"Oh, you know, same old, same old," Lindsey said shoving the notes deeper.

"Are your friends excited for your party?"

"Yeah. A few have already said they could come. Lexi's coming too."

Catherine brushed her fingers through her hair. "Just how many kids did you invite?"

"Five," Lindsey answered looking at the carpet.

Catherine caught the hesitation in her voice. "Five?"

"Okay, so it was ten."

She blinked quickly. She had thought Lindsey's answer was a little low, but she didn't think it was that low. "Ten?"

"Fine. You win. I invited twenty people."

Catherine jumped off the couch. "Twenty people? You expect me to handle twenty-one teenagers? Are you crazy?"

Lindsey smiled sheepishly. "Hey, it won't be just you. Warrick's coming too, remember. And Lexi's sixteen so I'm sure she'll be a help."

Catherine bit back a yell. Not surprisingly, the thought of twenty thirteen-year-olds with two adults and a sixteen-year-old for supervision didn't exactly comfort her. She walked toward her bedroom. Her hand grasped the molding and she turned back to face her daughter. "You better hope about half of those people can't come."

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By Friday it was official; fifteen of the twenty kids invited were allowed to come. The grave shift was in the midst of a double and Catherine nearly keeled over when Lindsey called her with the news. After pushing the phone off, she went in search of Warrick.

He was in the layout room, mulling over some new information in a case. He looked up at the sound of her heels. "Hey, Cath." He grinned, but it faltered when he saw her pained expression. "What's up?"

"You're still available for the party tomorrow, aren't you?"

"You bet. What time do you need me?"

"Five-thirty is when it starts, but you can come earlier if you like."

"Sure," he said.

"There's more."

"Are you okay? You're really starting to worry me."

"I just want you to know that when I asked you to do this I had absolutely no idea how many kids Lindsey was going to invite."

He placed his left hand on the table. "And how many did she invite?"

"Twenty."

His hand slipped and he stumbled, banging his elbow on the glass. He gripped it tenderly.

Catherine rushed over. "Five of them can't go, so it's really only sixteen kids we've got to worry about. And I've been assured Lexi will be helping us."

"They're going to kill us," said Warrick.

"I know. Listen, if you don't want to do it, I understand. She shouldn't have invited that many people."

Warrick held up a hand to stop her. "Cath, it's okay. I said I'd be there and I will. Look at the business we're in. If we can handle grown men with guns, I think we can handle a bunch of teenagers."

"I hope you're right," she said.

He smiled as he watched her go. Then he turned back to his evidence, thinking about what he could have possibly gotten himself into.

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A/N2: It's not that much, but I wanted to get something done. I have chapter thirteen all done and will post it tomorrow. That one is a good one. Let me know what you thought.