Title: Halfhearted

Pairing: Sara/Nick, Amelia/Speed, Amelia/Grissom

Spoiler: Lost Son, Viva Las Vegas, Pilot, basically all CSI episodes up to season 4/5ish.

Summary: Amelia's out of the hospital and she's back at the Lab. What happens when a hug between Amelia and Grissom incites riot? A case involving the murder of a Politician's wife, another involving a dead husband and a Casino theft wears down the CSIs as unexpected news jumps in their faces.

Disclaimer: I only own what you do not recognize. I.E: Amelia, Evan, and the victims and suspects. CSI Belongs to Jerry Bruckheimer and all of those smart people who created these fine CSI series.

My Original Note: I'm sorry this has taken so long! We moved into our house and then I lost all inspiration for this. I finally found some, so I'm sorry if this seems like I'm copying someone's story. I'm taking this in a different direction then people think, hopefully. I love surprises. Love to you all!!

New Note [January 2009]: I have changed something. It is no longer Tim who shows up. I found my long lost notes for my story and decided to edit Tim out. Sorry! Also, I realize the "death" is very similar to how Tim dies, and there is a reason for it. And no the reason is not just cause I couldn't think of anything else. You'll see later in this story!

Chapter 4: The Surprise

'Alea iacta est.' (The Dice Have Been Thrown.) -Julius Caesar

Mia quickly walked towards the layout room, knowing that the information that she was holding in her hands were going to be extremely helpful to Sara and Grissom's case, but would also put an extreme pressure on the case. She had to get it to them before the FBI came crawling in. Mia clutched the folder tightly in her hand as she came closer to the room. The papers inside the folder that she held contained DNA information, pictures, and information on three completely different cases. Two of which were from Atlanta and one was from Houston. She pushed through the door and set the paper on the table, a few feet from where Grissom and Sara were working. They looked from the folder to Mia, confused looks on their faces. Mia pushed back a smile and gave a straight, stern look. In all truth, Mia had no idea about what she was going to start. Just by the information that she was about to give to Sara and Grissom, she would start a chain of events that would only end in tears and heartbreak.

"You'll never guess what I found out."

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Amelia sat down across from Catherine and sighed, sipping quietly at her coffee, her blue eyes glued to the picture of Mrs. Edwards that lay in front of her. A good mother and a good wife who had no need to die. Amelia and Catherine still hadn't worked out why Cassie had shot up the Edward's room. As far as they had been able to find out, there was nothing tying any of the family members to Cassie or Todd. And she had a nagging feeling, like something was missing.

She tore her eyes from the picture and looked around the break room. Grissom and Sara were in the layout room with Mia, talking about their case, and Warrick and Nick were out working on their case. The break room seemed dead and uninviting to Amelia. She was dead tired and hungry. It was getting close to dinner time and it didn't seem like Amelia would be able to go out with Grissom for breakfast the next morning, not with how slow things were going. Amelia knew she would never be able to concentrate on breakfast with this case nagging at the back of her mind. And it seemed like Grissom was busy with his case, Amelia didn't want to take him away from it.

Amelia turned back to the photos of the crime scene and sighed sadly. She wanted so desperately to find Mrs. Edward's killer, she felt it was the only way to repay her. Amelia had found out that Mr. and Mrs. Edwards had donated money to the crime lab on several occasions. She was a nice woman.

"No sign of them. No sign of the gun. No links from Cassie to the Edwards. Raymone isn't talking. We've got nothing now." Amelia said sadly as she carefully set her cup of coffee on the table. Catherine looked at her and nodded, a look of helplessness on her face.

"No kidding." Catherine muttered.

"Hey Cath..." Amelia started to say. Catherine looked at her and waited for Amelia to go on. "I, uh." She turned and looked out the door just as several FBI agents walked by. Amelia stared in confusion, shrugged, then looked back at Catherine. "I'm going to head back to the hospital and check on Brass, ok?" She said. Catherine nodded and looked back down at the pictures and reports on the table. Amelia stood up, grabbed her cup of coffee, and headed towards the locker room. She needed to get her jacket before leaving. The sun would be setting soon which meant it was going to start getting cooler soon. She walked into the locker room and headed towards her locker. She opened it up and was putting on her jacket when the door opened. She looked over and saw Ecklie walk in. Amelia sighed and turned back to her locker, shutting it.

She had a feeling that he would end up looking for her and that couldn't be good.

Nothing that involves Ecklie is ever good.

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Jim slowly opened his eyes and found himself staring at a blurry vision of Amelia. As his eyes focused Amelia smiled down at him. She grabbed his hand gently and squeezed it.

"How ya doing mate?" Amelia asked quietly. Jim smiled softly and tried to squeeze her hand back, but it hurt. He winced in pain. "I'm so sorry." Amelia muttered. Jim looked at her in confusion. What would she have to be sorry about? He wondered to himself.

"About what?" Jim managed to say. His voice was raspy and it hurt to talk.

"About this." She replied, looking at his hands.

"It wasn't your fault."

"I know, but it just feels like it. Can't help it much Jimbo, just my nature." Amelia sighed as her thoughts traced back to Tim. Tim. He had once been her life, everything she lived for. But now he was dead and she had to move on. Grissom was what she needed and what she wanted. She was happy with Grissom. She just hoped he was happy with her.

"Don't." Jim whispered. Amelia looked at him with tears in her eyes and smiled. She gently squeezed his hand again and stood up.

"I'm going to let you get some sleep, ok? I'll be back tomorrow." She told him. Jim nodded and closed his eyes. He was tired anyways. Amelia gave Jim's hand one last squeeze then turned and left his room. She headed past the two uniformed guards outside his room and then headed down the short hallway. As she walked past a room she noticed a woman, obviously a patient, talking to a nurse. The woman was trying to get out of her bed, but the nurse wouldn't let her. Amelia briefly glanced at the woman's face then looked away. A few steps later she stopped and turned around, her jaw dropped and her eyes wide. She stared at the back of the woman's head and took a deep breath. No, it can't be, Amelia tried to convince herself. It wasn't working. The woman eventually turned back around in her bed. Amelia's eyes followed her, but the woman never noticed her. She knew her. She had different hair, but it was her.

It was her missing, and presumed dead, sister, Cathy.

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"Alright," Grissom said, setting down his pen. "Let's hear it." Mia nodded and opened the folder. She took out a few pieces of paper, full of information and slid them across the table to Grissom.

"On April 18, 2000, a man was killed in Houston at the busiest time of the day. No one saw him. No one knew anything. The case fell silent. Three days later, it happened again. This time, someone saw. The name of the witness was never released and after she gave her testimony, she left the city." Mia summarized for them.

"Where did you get all of this information?" Grissom asked after handing the papers to Sara.

"It came from the FBI databases. Here," Mia handed him a few more pieces of papers. "A little more than two years ago a shooting of an Atlanta Crime Scene Investigator took place by a man who was working for a jeweler. It was a hefty case with different ins and outs. It started out as a murder of a man. Then it turned out that the man was trying to pay the man who kidnapped his wife. He was trying to pay them with fake jewels. The kidnapper found out and killed him. Later, a," She looked down at a sheet and then back at Grissom and Sara. The only thing Mia didn't know was that they both knew the story pretty well. Nick had recounted the story after he heard it from his parents two years ago. They were just interested in knowing how this had to do with their case. "CSI John Mayberry and CSI Cathy Williamson went to the jewelry store where the family had their jewels cleaned. That's where CSI Cathy Williamson was shot. Now, everyone assumed that it had to do with the kidnapping of the little boy, but the FBI knew different."

"What are you saying?" Grissom asked, his heart was beating wildly in his chest. The day was getting worse by the minute. Mia frowned.

"The FBI set it up. Williamson was the witness and the FBI found out that the men who were involved with the jewelers, they were partners with the man Williamson sent to jail. The so called 'security' that the jeweler there hired, well...they were looking for Williamson in Atlanta. They knew she was there. They somehow figured out she was going to be there. But the FBI got there before Mayberry and Williamson. Without Mayberry's knowledge, they put in a double of Williamson."

"You mean it was never Williamson that was killed? It was some look alike?" Sara asked angrily. Mia nodded.

"I don't know how they did it, but they were able to fool everybody in Atlanta. So, now. You have your case." She grabbed a stack of photos. She dropped the first one on the table. It was Alan Richards. "You know him as Alan Richards, but he's an FBI agent. Toby Keller." She dropped another photo on the table this one was of Diana Richards. "Diana Richards is really FBI agent Michelle Faith." The next photo dropped was of Carson Warner. "Steve Anderson, another FBI agent." She dropped the last photo on the table with a sad sigh. "And last, but not least, Cathy Williamson." Grissom's head shot up and he stared at her with large eyes. He couldn't believe it.

"This is Cathy? This is...oh God." Grissom closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. He couldn't understand how everything got so bad.

"Griss..." Sara said. Grissom opened his eyes and sighed angrily. Four FBI agents were standing behind Mia. Suddenly, everything got so much worse.

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---"I understand you and Gil Grissom have been having a personal relationship, outside of work." Ecklie asked. Amelia sighed and rolled her eyes. She turned to him.

"Yes, we have." She answered him. He gave her one of his sick smiles that makes everyone's skin crawl. Amelia glanced at her ex-husband. He sat in his grey suit, smiling at Amelia. That sick smile that makes you want to hurl. It makes your skin crawl. How did I fall in love with that kind of a man? Amelia thought to herself. A shiver went though Amelia as she remembered that day in court.

"Then why don't you try and keep it out of work. That's the whole point of having an outside relationship." He said curtly. Amelia stared blankly at his back as he walked away. As soon as the door to the locker room shut Amelia let out an angry sigh.

"Asshole." She muttered before leaving the locker room.---

Amelia sat down at the bar and ordered water. She couldn't drink while working, but she needed something. During the ten minute drive to the hotel she had been trying to convince herself that she hadn't seen Cathy. It wasn't working. Amelia smiled at the bartender as he gave her her drink. She sipped at the water and blocked the tears. She couldn't cry. No, if it was Cathy, then obviously something was wrong and she would rather not get messed up in it. Not now. She knew better than to get messed up in other people's problems. Besides, her whole family thought Cathy dead.

Amelia closed her eyes as a very familiar person sat down next to her.

"Wanna tell me why you're in a casino bar?" He asked. Amelia sighed and opened her eyes, chuckling.

"Seems familiar, huh?" She asked.

---Warrick sat down at the bar with a tired sigh. He was beyond tired and was ready to go home. The case had been a bad one. A mother and daughter raped and killed in their home. They were lucky enough to catch the guy who did it, but everybody was angry with it. Everyone always became emotionally when a child was involved in any type of case, it was just how they were.

After they arrested the guy everyone went their separate ways. Grissom went to ride his roller coaster, Amelia went home to her husband, Nick went to an empty apartment, same with Sara, and Warrick was at a casino bar, drinking.

He ordered a scotch and stared at the counter. It was better than gambling, at least in his opinion. He was trying to stop gambling, but it wasn't working. Warrick took a small sip of his drink as someone sat next to him. He glanced over and chuckled.

"Shouldn't you be at home?" He asked. She chuckled and ordered water. Warrick looked back at the counter and sighed. He hated being so close to her because he had a crush on her. But she was married. He couldn't take it any father.

"You know Rick, you can't shut people out." She said as the bartender handed her a drink.

"What do you mean?" Warrick asked, continuing to stare at the counter.

"I know you Rick, you've got something on your mind. What is it?" She asked. Warrick looked back at her and his heart skipped a beat. There she was, in her typical work outfit, black dress pants with a button up shirt and a black jacket. Her short brown hair was left loose around her face. Her blue eyes looked like a dark brown since there were hardly any lights in the bar.

"I'm just messed up by the case, Mel." He told her. Amelia pursed her lips together and nodded, turning away from him.

"We all are Rick. It happens more times than it should, but you should never act like this." She told him.

"What? By drinking? How about gambling? Would that be any better?" Warrick asked angrily. Amelia chuckled quietly and finished off her drink quickly. She laid a few bills on the counter and got off her stool.

"See ya tomorrow Rick." She told him before leaving. Warrick sighed angrily. I always screw things up. ---

"I'm surprised you remember that." Warrick said, smiling. Amelia looked at him chuckled, nodding.

"I remember a lot of things. What are you doing here?" Amelia asked. Warrick pointed across the room to the casino. An officer was putting up the yellow tape to cover a section of the casino.

"Working on a case." Warrick told her. Truth was, they were nowhere near done. Warrick really wanted to go home and get some sleep, but then he spotted Amelia sitting at the bar and figured he should say hi.

"Oh." The two laughed and Amelia turned back to her drink.

"What are you doing here?" Warrick asked. Amelia shrugged and took a sip of her drink. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"Don't start Rick. Something just came up and I needed a few minutes to collect myself before going back to the lab." Amelia told him. Warrick nodded.

"Right. So how's Jim?" He asked.

"Jim's good. He's sleeping. I'm sure he'll be fine." Amelia told him. Warrick nodded and looked away. Amelia glanced at her watch and sighed. "I better get back. Catherine and I have run into a stop on our case."

"Right. Stay sane." Warrick told her as Amelia walked away. Amelia chuckled and headed towards the front door. She had to put this thing with Cathy out of her mind until she could figure out her own case. Then, only then, would she start trying to figure out that happened with Cathy.

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"What brings you here?" Grissom asked the Federal Agent, trying to play innocent.

"We have Carson Warner, Lisa Warner, and Diana Richards in our custody. We're getting them out of here. You are to drop this investigation immediately." One of the FBI agents warned. Grissom smiled politely. Sara, however, was not. She was shooting knives at the FBI agents. She wasn't up to being nice to them.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that. A man has been murdered. It's up to us to find his killer." Grissom told him kindly, though he knew the FBI would take over the case anyway.

"Not anymore. It's the FBI's problem, we'll take care of it." He said, motioning to his two other Agents. They moved around him and began to pack the evidence into boxes. Mia glared as one of the guys grabbed the folder out of her hand. She moved as he pushed past her, to get to the other evidence.

"Like you took care of Cathy Stokes?" Sara said angrily. She knew who Cathy was; she knew how bad Amelia and Nick were going to freak out if they found out. She may not like Amelia too much, but she didn't want Amelia to go through something like this. She knew that in reality, it would be better for Amelia's mental health if she never knew.

"Sara..." Grissom warned her. She ignored him.

"Excuse me?" The FBI agent said. Sara flashed him a fake smile.

"Cathy Stokes almost died because you guys tried to help her. Maybe, instead of pretending to get rid of her, and ruining so many people's lives, you should have gotten rid of the bad guys. But I guess you all are too stupid to think of that, hmm?" Sara spat angrily. She pushed past the agent and left the room, heading for the break room.

Sara got to the break room and found Catherine going over different reports, probably pertaining to her case. Catherine looked up and smiled, but then noticed the look on Sara's face. She frowned. She was in both mommy and CSI mode. Scary combination, Sara thought as she noticed the concern on Catherine's face. Sara forced a small smile.

"You ok?" Catherine asked. Sara shook her head.

"No. Our case has taken a dramatic nose dive." Sara said, walking over to the coffee pot. She grabbed a cup and poured herself some coffee.

"Ames and I saw the Feds. What's going on?" Catherine asked. Sara took a deep breath and looked at Catherine.

"To make a long story short, Cathy Stokes was one of our victims. She was being protected by the FBI and they loused it up." Sara told her. Catherine's jaw dropped.

"She's alive?" Catherine asked, shocked beyond her wildest dreams. Sara nodded sadly.

"FBI's taking all three of our live victims back to Atlanta with them, or something. I'm not sure. I couldn't stay. I can't stand-" Sara saw something out of the corner and looked over to the door. Amelia was standing in the doorway.

"Detective Cavalier found Cassie. They arrested her in the Mall. She's on her way." She said blankly, looking at Catherine. She then looked at Sara. "Is he here?" She asked. Sara stared at her in confusion.

"Who? No...I don't-" Amelia turned and headed towards the layout room. Catherine glanced at Sara and then they both started following Amelia. Amelia hurried towards the layout room, hoping to see if he was there. He was the cause of all her pain and she couldn't wait to finally let him know. She reached the layout room and could see Grissom talking to four FBI agents. Amelia pushed the door open and pushed through the agents and got in front of his face. "You son of a bitch." Amelia growled. Instead of getting angry, he smiled.

"Amelia!" Grissom shouted. Amelia ignored him. She would explain it to Grissom later.

"You think you can come in here and just ignore me? Pretend like you haven't hurt dozens of people with your lies?" Amelia said angrily. He just simply smiled.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied.

"CATHY STOKES IS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD. Now tell me, PLEASE, why did I see HER walking around the hospital, very much alive?" Amelia asked angrily. He didn't say anything. In fact, it was dead quiet. "Sackheim, you better answer me. It's the least you could do after letting everyone in my family believe that my sister, was dead. Tell me, Dennis, why am I seeing her now?"

"You know, Stokes, I can't divulge that information. It pertains to a case that you are not involved with, whatsoever." Sackheim replied. Amelia's upper lip curled in anger.

"Don't be such a dope. I'm going to find out and you know it. Does Mayberry know?" Amelia asked. Sackheim shook his head and rubbed his forehead. Amelia always was the type of person who could give you a headache, if you didn't know how to deal with her. Even after all that time working with her in Miami, before he left for Atlanta, he never mastered the art of how to deal with her.

"CSI Mayberry knows that CSI Williamson was involved with a case in Houston, but that's all. Now, I have a job to do."

"Oh, why start now?" Amelia said bitterly.

"Amelia, stop it." Grissom grabbed Amelia's arm and dragged her out of the layout room. She pulled her arm out of his grasp and glared at him.

"Don't you dare try to chastise me Gil Grissom." Amelia said angrily, staring into his eyes.

"You have no right and I mean NO right to go into there and say what you just said. If it seemed pertinent to tell you of what's coming out of this case, then Sara or I would have sat you down and talked to you. This case is out of our hands now. I'm sure, if Cathy wants to contact you, she will. But you will never act like that again, do you understand me?" He said angrily.

"Excuse me? If I hadn't seen Cathy at the hospital it would have been likely I wouldn't have heard anything on this subject whatsoever."

"That does not give you an excuse to act as you did. You have embarrassed this lab Amelia. Don't you understand that?"

"I don't really care about that right now. Jesus Gil, I think I would have expected you to care just a little more about me than about this lab."

"Why? Because we're dating? Amelia-" Amelia held up her hands and stopped him.

"Don't Gil. Just don't. I've got a suspect to interrogate. So excuse me, while I get back to my job." She turned with an angry glare and walked away from him. She couldn't understand what just happened. Everything was mixing angrily in her brain and she couldn't make any sense of it. Then she suddenly stopped not more than ten steps away form where Grissom was still standing. She needed to know where she was. She needed to talk to her. She needed answers. She turned with determination and headed back towards Sackheim who was still inside the layout room with his three other agents and Mia. Sara and Catherine were standing right outside the door, looking at the ground.

Grissom's eyes followed Amelia as she stormed into the layout. He made a go to grab her but missed. Catherine, Sara, and Mia just watched as Amelia walked right up to Sackheim and pushed him. Everyone's jaws dropped as Sackheim was caught off guard and staggered back slightly.

"Amelia!" Grissom's voice yelled out. Nobody paid attention, though several lab techs slowly dragged themselves from their stations to see what was going on.

"Where is she?" She asked forcefully. Catherine and Sara both made sure Grissom was blocked out of the doorway so he couldn't get in. They both knew Amelia needed this and they weren't ready to let Grissom in yet.

"Some place nobody knows about." Sackheim answered angrily, straightening himself up, embarrassed to be caught off guard by Amelia. Amelia smirked.

"Sure about that? Is that what you thought when you set your agents up with her in a house? Did you honestly think whoever was looking for her wasn't going to find her? You may have fooled me and Nick with her death, but that was because we cared too much. We were emotionally involved, these people aren't. Think with your head Sackheim, not with your ass." Amelia retorted angrily. She was starting to lose control and she knew this was not going to end easily.

"The last thing Cathy needs to see is you or Nick." Sackheim shouted angrily in her face. The way he said it made Amelia take a step back. She shrugged.

"Fine." She acted as if she was going to leave but then turned around, and with all the force she could muster, slammed Sackheim against the wall. She heard Grissom once again call her name out. "You think I'm just going to give up? You turned my life to hell for two years, making me believe that my sister was dead. You think I'm just going to walk away knowing she's alive?" Amelia yelled angrily. She wasn't thinking about what the repo cautions would be about doing this. She just simply didn't care. Sackheim pushed her off him with a forceful shrug causing Amelia to stumble away and trip over the leg of a chair. Amelia landed on the ground with a hard thump, but neither she nor Sackheim was dazed by it.

"That is exactly what you should do. You know what happens when you stick your nose into other's people's business. Just look at Cathy. A life in the witness protection program, never being able to actually live. You know you need to just stay away from her." Sackheim straightened his jacket and continued to send a menacing stare towards Amelia as she slowly picked herself up off the ground. "It's better for everyone that way." Tears stung Amelia's eyes as she realized how much of the truth that really was. Everything he was saying was making sense, but Amelia couldn't listen to that.

She needed to see her again.

Even though Cathy was almost five years older than Amelia, they had been very close to each other. Amelia always looked up to Cathy. Cathy was one of the reasons Amelia and Nick both got into the whole Crime Scene thing. Amelia had missed her sister over the last two years. The fact that Cathy and Tim's deaths were so similar had been bothering Amelia for the last three months, but she wouldn't even try to wonder if Tim might still be alive.

She pushed though the FBI agents, Sara, and Catherine and away from Grissom as she headed away. She noticed the looks of several of the lab techs as she walked through the lab, but she didn't care.

She finally stepped into the fresh cool air of Las Vegas and sighed sadly. Everything had suddenly come apart in just a matter of minutes. She was so angry at Cathy for lying to her, never telling her the truth. And she was angry at how everybody was just going to keep it a secret from her. And Grissom...Grissom. The one person she thought she could trust and he had been willing to keep it from her also.