AN: I'm hoping that this next chapter does what I want it to do. I tried to make it believable. Please R&R to cheer me up. God I hate midterms.

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI. I wish I did, cuz I have a lot of ideas that I wish that they'd put in the show.

In A Plexiglas Prison With You

Chapter Five: From Bad To Worse

"…and Greggo…he's probably doing a perfect analysis of the evidence," Catherine continued, smiling.

"He's come a long way," Grissom agreed, thinking of their spiky-haired colleague.

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"She said my name," Greg announced. The other three looked at him.

"You read lips now?" Warrick asked, raising an eyebrow. Greg shook his head.

"I'm not Grissom, but I do know when someone says 'Greggo'," he explained, his boyish grin creeping onto his face as he watched the conversation between his supervisors.

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"Sara's probably inserted herself into the case by now," Grissom added. He felt Catherine stiffen at the mention of Sara's name.

"What was that?" he asked, turning to look at her. She feigned surprise.

"What?" she asked, shifting so she could see his face.

"You flinched when I said Sara!" he accused. She raised her eyebrows.

"I did not!"

"Bull, Cath!" he shot at her, "What is your problem with her?" he demanded.

"I don't have a problem with her," she said through gritted teeth.

"Liar," he said coldly. She gaped at him.

"Don't call me a liar!" she shot back.

"Then don't lie to me," he said lowly and dangerously. She bit back a retort. In the logical portion of her brain, she knew that fighting was the last thing that they should be doing, not here, at least.

"Just leave it," she growled, moving to roll over so that she wasn't facing him. He let out a bitter chuckle.

"No. You want to talk, let's talk," he said stubbornly, "What's the problem, Cath? Because you haven't remarked on my relationship with Sara yet, and we both know how much you enjoy talking about our personal lives," he stated. She glared at him. Where did he get off being so high and mighty?

"What am I supposed to say, Gil?" she asked bluntly, "I'm happy for you? Or how about I'm glad you risked you job for her? Better yet, thank you for lecturing me and reprimanding me about personal and professional integrity, and then you go and sleep with your subordinate!" she yelled, her bottled up rage exploding as she finally said what she had longed to say to him from the moment she found out about him and Sara.

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"Oh, shit," Nick muttered.

"What?" Sara asked, taking her eyes from the screen.

"Cath's got that look," he said. They all looked and knew that when Catherine looked like that, somebody was in trouble.

"Now I'm really worried," Greg gulped, "They're gonna kill each other in that box."

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"You fault me for having a life?" Grissom shot at her, hitting the Plexiglas.

"No, I fault you for being a fucking hypocrite!" she countered, "Tell me one thing, Grissom. Why would you, of all people, compromise your own integrity, especially after all the times you've lectured me about it? We all live in glass houses and you've got to be careful where you take your shower. Wasn't that what you said to me?"

"I…you have no…" the words wouldn't come out.

"What, nothing to say to that?" she asked. He glared at her.

"I'm sorry that I'm stuck here with you," he growled before he flipped over so that his back was to her. He didn't see the hurt that crossed over her face.

"I'm glad you're miserable," she said coldly, through the pain that she was feeling, "Now you know how I've felt every day for the past 23 years," she spoke, but her voice gave no indication of the tears spilling out of her eyes. She turned on her side, her back to his.

And Grissom felt like he had lost his best friend and he knew that it was all his fault that she had said those words that tore him in two. It was all his fault.

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"I think they did more than kill each other," Nick stated as he watched the two supervisors lay back to back. Catherine had brought a hand to her face and was wiping a tear. Grissom looked like he was fighting back his own.

"I wonder what they said," Sara said, frowning as she peered at the pair, trying to get some sort of read on what had transpired. She had a sinking feeling that it had had something to do with her. No matter how hard she, or anyone else, for that matter, tried to figure Grissom and Catherine out, the task was impossible because both had gotten too good at raising up defensive shields.

"Guys? What was in the package?" Brass questioned from the door upon seeing them all huddled around a monitor. Warrick moved aside and beckoned Brass inside. The detective stood there in shock as he saw his friends laying back to back in a Plexiglas coffin.

"Where are they?" he questioned.

"No idea," Warrick told him, "The address for the website was on the back of this," he explained, showing the picture of Grissom and Catherine unconscious in the coffin, "Along with these," he continued, showing Brass the other photos.

"What the hell?" Brass questioned, flipping through the disturbing photographs.

"Someone has been watching them for a long time," Nick added, "There's a picture of us having breakfast after that Strip Strangler case and a few from even before that."

Brass flipped through the photographs, but paused when he came upon the one of Grissom giving a dead baby to Catherine, "Does anybody know if there was any shots taken of the crowd at this scene?" he asked, holding up the picture.

"I'll look in the evidence archives," Warrick volunteered.

"If you find anything, compare it to the photos that were taken at my scene," Nick told him.

"Will do," Warrick left the room.

"Greg, I was coming to see you, actually," Brass said, "I just finished talking to Bezich and his lawyer. Remember how he said that he had been waiting for a delivery?"

"Yeah, why?"

"He was expecting an order of sushi to serve as part of a theme night," Brass revealed. Greg raised his eyebrows.

"Got a company?" he asked.

"'Feeding Frenzy'. It's a company that operates out of California. They buy fish from fishermen and, for an extra fee, they deliver their products," he explained. Greg nodded.

"Let's give 'Feeding Frenzy' a call," he suggested, "Something seems fishy here."

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Warrick laid down each photo as if he was dealing out Blackjack. The Winston case was tragic. He hated seeing dead kids. He set aside the photos of baby Joshua Winston and focused on the shots of the crowd.

"Need a hand?" Nick asked, knocking on the doorframe of the layout room.

"Sure. Do you want to take the pictures from your scene?" Warrick asked. Nick nodded curtly and set to work. They worked in silence until Nick spoke.

"Is…is that what it was like when…I was-"

"Yeah," Warrick said swallowing, "I never wanted to see anyone in that position again…and now…Griss and Cath…they-they made it better when you were in their position…" he sighed heavily. Nick nodded.

"We'll find them, 'Rick," he said, "We have to."

"Yeah," Warrick busied himself with the photographs. Nick looked through the photos of his own crime scene. He came across a face that he did not recognize near the edge of the crowd. The man wasn't in uniform, however. He looked like a reporter. Nick took a magnifying glass and examined the man. He looked like an average guy. He had brown hair, fairly tall, with a muscular build. In his right hand, there was a camera. Nick could make out a grey triangle on the back of his hand.

"Hey, Warrick, check this out," he requested, pointing to the man in the picture. Warrick looked at the man and then turned back to the crime scene photos. Then, a little ways away from the scene, sitting in the front seat of a blue car, was the same man, holding a camera in the hand with the grey triangle.

"Let's talk to Brass," Warrick suggested, grabbing both photographs.

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"I don't see how you can get off suspecting my workers in this," Markus White, owner of 'Feeding Frenzy' fish market said through the phone after Brass asked for an employee log.

"Listen, Mr. White, two lives hang in the balance here," Brass stated firmly, "And if either of them die because of this, I will make it my business to hold you responsible," he threatened. Greg listened with rapt attention across from the detective.

"I don't believe my workers are responsible for this," White said, hesitantly, "but I will cooperate. I will fax you an employee list and their whereabouts last night. After all, as you put it, two lives hang in the balance," he consented. A grin broke out on Brass's face.

"The Las Vegas Crime Lab thanks you for your cooperation, sir," he thanked him and hung up the phone.

"You really think that a fish delivery boy is behind this?" Greg asked, "Why would 'Feeding Frenzy' stalk Grissom and Catherine?"

"Some people are wack-jobs, Greg," Brass shrugged.

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Catherine was still lying on her side, her back to Grissom. They hadn't said a word to each other in over two hours. His words still stung. When had they gotten to the point that they aimed to hurt each other? There was a time that they would never judge each other or dream of saying those hurtful things. There was a time when they were so close that they could finish each other's sentences and realize what the other needed without words. There was a time when they were best friends and nothing could come between them. Somewhere through the years they had lost sight of everything. They had started arguing and criticizing, only lately, 'sorry' was that one word that they never said anymore. No more truces, no make-ups…just words that cut her deep inside, scarring her. Just words that she said to hurt him as much as he had hurt her.

Grissom felt cold. He felt like she had shot him point blank and the bullet was circulating in his chest and shredding his heart into little pieces. He had only said what he said because she was right. He was pathetic. He was a hypocrite. Even he couldn't blame her for hating him. He'd never tell her that, though; he was too proud and too much of a coward. And those two traits had cost him what was once the most important thing in his life: there relationship. It had never been more than friends, but she had been right by his side through everything, and was more than a friend. He fought back the memories he had of her before things had gone bad, memories that he'd cherish forever, because after their great friendship, those memories were all that he was left with. He tried to focus on the beams of light shining in the green-blue hue. It only made him feel worse about everything.

It made him feel even worse when he saw a shadow outside their prison. Now he was really scared.

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"Thought you could use a coffee," Greg said, handing Sara a cup of his best blend. She smiled at took it.

"How'd the fish place pan out?" she questioned. He shrugged.

"Brass is looking for any employees with a rap sheet who may have had something against Grissom or Catherine," he answered. Sara shook her head.

"It's a shot in the dark," she said bitterly, "They stopped looking at Bezich?"

"He was stuffed in his trunk. His print on the bucket wasn't in the fish blood. I had to use print powder. It could have been from a previous shipment and someone was trying to lead us to Bezich so we could find the pictures. He just doesn't have a motive, Sara. He cheated on Cath, not the other way around," he replied.

"How are they doing?" Nick called through the open door, concern written all over his face. Warrick was beside him.

"They seem okay," Sara replied, looking back at the screen, "They still aren't talking," she sighed, looking back at the screen with dismay. They were all in agreement that Catherine and Grissom's fight only made things worse. Everyone present, even Sara, had to agree that everything went a lot smoother when Grissom and Catherine worked as a unified front.

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Catherine stopped thinking. It was all that she could do not to cry. She wouldn't cry in front of him. She stared out the side of their prison, and was shocked when something swam across her view. It was a form she recognized from one of her favourite movies of all time. It was a form that scared her to death.

"Oh my god!" she gasped, not caring that he could hear the fear in her voice as the thing moved closer to their prison. She felt his back against hers and felt him roll over. She did the same and saw the same panic in his eyes.

TBC