Sara – Free to roam, made a home out of everywhere I've been.

Sara awoke to Nick gently shaking her shoulder with a soft smile. The 4 hour drive to Ely had sent her to dreamland before they were even out of Vegas. While being sent to the backseat of Grissom's car had annoyed her at first she was infinitely grateful for it now, she could only imagine the humiliation of waking up to his pitying looks and queries about her sleeping pattern and social life.

She muttered a thanks as she uncurled her body and stepped out of the car. Grissom was already chatting to two officers by the side of a huge colonial style house. the rickety blue shutters squeaking in the wind and the huge oak tree in the garden creaking under the pressure. Nick passed her kit to her and they both approached the men quietly.

"this is CSI's Stokes and Sidle, they will be helping me with my investigation" Grissom introduced them.

The two officers were poles apart, the small round one grumbled his hello's with an air of inconvenience. It was clear he didn't really want them there.

"Grant Haslow Ma'am nice to meet you"

He stretched his fat, stubby and sweaty hand out in her direction and she shook it politely, barely able to keep the wince from her face. He offered his hand to Nick and he shook it with a smile and a nod.

The second police officer was a world away, tall and toned with short dark hair and a wide genuine smile. He stretched out his hand to her and she suddenly felt very aware of her newly wakened state. she nervously tucked some of her hair behind her ear and returned the smile.

"Robert Miller, it's a pleasure. Not often there are pretty ladies showing up to help us out"

She was well aware that they were still shaking hands, well aware that they were maintaining eye contact just a little longer than they should and also well aware that Grissom was glaring at her with a look that could only be described as poisonous.

"shall we take a walk through?" he interjected pointing his remark to her then marching off in the direction of the house.

She raised an eyebrow at Nick and sighed as she followed him. another exciting instalment in the drama that was her relationship with one Gil Grissom. She was beginning to get tired of this particular soap opera.

The smell of blood filled her nose immediately, it didn't matter how many times she had walked through crime scene's swimming with blood and yet the smell could still get to her. it still invaded her senses. There was ample amounts of blood at a triple homicide, 3 bodies lay out on the floor of the kitchen with knife wounds littering their torso's.

"the officer said the victims are two brothers. Jeff and Harry and the girl is Harry's teenage daughter Lois" Grissom filled them in quietly, crouching down at the man they now knew as Harry.

Sara bent down over the young girl, she couldn't have been more than 16 years old and her face was frozen in an expression of pure terror. She must have died a horrific death, her arms were stretched out towards the back door and the streaks of blood behind her suggested she had tried to escape.

"the mother's name is Margaret, she is missing along with her 6 year old son and a 6month old girl" Officer Miller spoke from the kitchen doorway.

He was watching their investigation, or more specifically her investigation. It was rather off putting trying to remain attractive while photographing the bloody body of a young woman he was likely to be familiar with. The coroner arrived shortly after them and did his thing while they processed the room. it didn't look like the attacker had put much thought into covering his tracks. A footprint in the blood, a print on the door handle and a short dark hair in the blood pool were all promising piece's of evidence they collected from the room.

"ok Sara will you take the top floor? Nick you take upstairs and I'll work the rest of this floor"

Sara nodded and took the many steps to the top floor. It was dark and cold up here. an eerie feeling settled over her as she reached the tiny landing and drew her flashlight over the two small rooms nestled in the eaves. The first room was basically empty the only furniture was a small desk and a jumble of boxes. The second room appeared to be decked out as a nursery. Toy boxes and a changing table across one wall and a crib under the window. the moonlight filtered in and highlighted the crib as Sara shone her flashlight into the corners of the room, searching for something, anything that would tell them something.

She was turning to leave when she heard the noise, it was a bit like a cat waking up from a long nap and she spun around expecting to see just that. The blankets inside the crib were moving and squirming, carefully she stepped across the room. her hand hovered over her gun in its holster, just in case. She reached out and pulled back the blankets.

"well I didn't expect to find you in there" she cooed into the little pink bundle in the crib.

The baby giggled and wriggled around in the bed and Sara couldn't help but smile right along with her. she gathered the baby up in her arms, grabbing a small stuffed giraffe and a blanket and headed for the stairs.

"look who I found upstairs" she smiled.

Grissom was standing at the foot of the stairs chatting to officer Miller when she appeared. They both looked astounded to see her carrying a baby.

"I thought you cleared the house? there could have been anyone up there!" Grissom was livid. Probably quite rightly so, if they had left the baby at the scene there was no way of knowing when anyone would be back to find her.

"I did, I … I guess I didn't look in the crib"

"she was sleeping Grissom, I would probably have missed her too"

Judging by the look he threw her as he stormed out of the building she probably should have bit her tongue and not jumped to the defence of the officer on the receiving end of his rage. Nick came down the stairs declaring his floor clear as Sara passed the baby to the officer.

"come on Angel, lets get you to the hospital" he whispered before turning around "hey Sara, if your staying in town I'd love to take you out for a drink?"

She was sure she flushed a deep shade of crimson. She tried to think up something witty to say but instead she nodded shyly and smiled as he disappeared through the doors. Nick grinned at her as he walked by, gently punching her on the arm and winking.

"flirting at a crime scene… Greg would be proud!"

She could have shot him down with a cutting and belittleing remark but instead she shot him a death glare and headed for the door ahead of him.

"Grissom on the other hand….." he apparently wasn't finished, she whirled around on her heel to face him. "well I could have sworn he was jealous. You know, if I didn't know better"

"yeah, well you do and Grissom doesn't do jealousy, Grissom doesn't do anything"

They stepped out of the house to see Grissom talking to officer Haslow in urgent tones. He looked worried, like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Sara and Nick stowed their kits and evidence in the trunk of the car as Grissom approached them.

"they found the mother"

"is she ok?" Nick inquired

"no, she's dead…our triple just became a quadruple"