Greg and Sara exchanged worried glances before Sara picked up her cell to call Grissom; "Grissom."He sounded tired. "It's Sara. We're at McKinley High the young girl in the music room?" She said wearily. "Sofia's daughter," Sara frowned. "How did you know that?"She replied, frowning at this annoyance. "Nick called me. Are you using the Mobile analysis Unit?" Grissom asked. "Yeah we found a useable print on the flagpole by the body; the flag was draped over the body," Sara began. "Do we have a match?" Grissom asked. Sara took in a deep breath; "Yeah…Grissom…the print matches Sofia…" Grissom did not speak on the other end; he was clearly as shocked as the rest of them.
"I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation but obviously we need to question her. I'm scared she's a little too fragile to question at the moment; but technically she's a top suspect in this case now…talk with her. See what you can find out," Grissom sighed lightly. "Okay, I'll keep you posted," Sara ended the call and sighed. Greg picked up his kit and walked towards Catherine who still held Sofia in her arms. He waited for Sara to approach them too and Catherine spoke to them. "Did you find anything useable?" She frowned at their worried faces wondering what in the world could have happened.
"We found a print on a flagpole; the United States of America flag was draped over the body and we found a necklace next to her. Also a small cut on her ankle but that could be from shaving; it looks incidental," Greg concluded. "Well go to the Mobile Analysis Unit and run the print through AFIS, find out who it belongs to," Catherine frowned. "We did," Sara replied cautiously. "And?" She waited. "It matches Sofia," Sara whispered. Catherine opened her mouth to speak but no words managed to carry to the air. "Also Mr Stevens gave us information about Cassie's parents but the woman named as her mother is Alice Fox. We took a sample of Cassie's DNA and matched it to Sofia's which was on file obviously. There were 13 alleles in common but Alice claims to be Cassie's mother," Greg replied, slightly confused.
Just then, Sofia raised her head and spoke; "Alice is my ex-husband's new wife. She raises Cassie like she is her own daughter and she did a good job; even though I hate to admit it. I was rarely allowed to see her even though the divorce papers clearly state we have joint custody. When Simon and I broke up we agreed to let Cassie make her own decision on who she wanted to live with. She said she loved me very much but she wanted to live with her father. I accepted it; like I had any other choice. So she lived with her father and Alice. I last saw her three weeks ago. I came here…waited for her outside her class…and I went to the music room because she was staying behind to practice for her piano recital. I remember clearly that I was leant against that flagpole that's when I would have touched it. It's the only time I've ever been in that room and now…I'll never go there again…" She looked into Sara's eyes earnestly, and Sara looking back into her eyes knew one thing; that she was telling the truth. "We believe you Sofia but we still have to follow protocol, so you will have to write out a statement detailing what you just told me, okay?" Sara picked up Sofia's hand in hers; "It's going to be alright, I promise," She whispered; Sofia nodded softly, smiling faintly.
The CSIs headed back to their cars; seeing Grissom arrive to talk to Sofia himself, and after sealing their collected evidence securely in the back they climbed in. Catherine climbed into the driver's side this time; Nick was glad for this reprieve. He sighed as he secured his seatbelt into place. He pulled out his cell and saw that he had a missed call from Warrick. "Warrick's been checking up on me again I think," He laughed and rolled his eyes. "Well Warrick will have to wait; we need to speak to Sofia to get some more background on the victim from her, then see what Sara and Greg can drag up from the evidence they collected by end of shift in…fifty seven minutes," She laughed, "And counting," Nick answered with a wide smile. Catherine laughed in response and leaned over to kiss him softly. "I can't wait until after shift," She murmured. "Why what's happening after shift?" He responded, knowingly. "You're taking me out to dinner," She grinned mischievously. "Oh really? That's news to me," he grinned back. "Did I mention you're paying? I'll say thank you in advance shall I?" She giggled. "Well on behalf of me and my bank balance; you're welcome," he replied, kissing her cheek. "Oh come on, you know I'll pay you back," She replied licentiously. "Well, I'm not goin' to say no to that," He replicated her decadent stare.
Sara and Greg were stood outside their Denali arguing over who was going to drive back this time; not in the slightest seriousness but defending their corners all the same; "I'm not driving Sara, I drove here," Greg whined. "Well I'm not driving because I will kill us both when I fall asleep on the dashboard!" Sara exclaimed. "If you start falling asleep I'll take over okay?" He reasoned. Sara sighed; "Okay," She climbed into the driver's seat and put on her belt. Greg clambered into the passenger seat and just started to put on his belt when he noticed Sara's head resting on the back of the chair. He frowned; "Ha-ha Sara, very funny," he rolled his eyes. "HahahahhhAre you really asleep or just pretending?" She did not open her eyes. "Pretending," She laughed. "Get your eyes on the road and drive us back to the lab," Greg whined, resting his own head against the headrest and closing his eyes. After about thirty seconds had passed he opened them. "You're not going to drive are you?" He sighed; "No," She replied before breaking into uncontrollable laughter. "I'm sorry sweetie I'm just so tired, I'll make it up to you I promise," She supplicated. Greg sighed; "Fine, but you so owe me Sara Sidle," He smiled and kissed her softly; he pulled away but she didn't want him to. She held his face in her hands as she kissed him again. A knock on the window scared them both; "Back to the lab. Now," Grissom frowned, but it dissipated into a small smile. "Stop doing that!" Greg retorted, clearly sulking at having been afraid of such a slight noise. Grissom looked at him with his head tilted to the side then he rapped on the glass again indicating for them to drive back to the lab immediately. Sara placed a hand on Greg's; "I'll drive baby," She kissed him lightly and he breathed a sigh of relief. He rested his head against the headrest and drifted off to sleep almost instantaneously. Sara's eyes felt heavy as she drove and if she had not been on shift at that particular moment, she would have pulled over and slept right there and then. She drove on carefully, fighting the incessant urge to fall asleep; she knew that was not an option. She pulled into the crime lab parking lot after fifteen minutes more. They climbed out of the car and made a bee-line for the lab. Once they arrived they placed their items carefully in the lockable cabinet next to the fume hood. They were very careful what they put under the fume hood nowadays; after Catherine's unknown liquid sample had decimated the DNA lab badly hurting Greg a few years prior. As the metal would get hot under the fume hood they put it in the cabinet just to be safe. Sara looked at her watch; five minutes to go before the end of shift. Both she and Greg were gazing longingly at the clock-in machine, willing the time to move just that little bit faster. They went into the dark locker-room to collect their belongings before clocking out from shift. They would not need to be back into work until 11 the following night. They sighed and punched their cards. "Thank God that shift is over," Sara slumped against the wall. "I know, fifty thousand hours later," Greg replied clearly exaggerating.
They walked out into the early morning, taking in the cool breeze; "Do you want to get dinner?" Greg piped up. "You don't know how much," Sara sighed. They walked down the road to Javu's and entered the gargantuan Italian restaurant. They asked the Maitre'D for a table for two. They sat down and smiled at the waiter as he gave them both menus. Sara looked to her right and feigned groaning misery as she saw who was sat beside them; "Like we don't see enough of you guys at work!" She laughed as Cath and Nick looked up and smiled up at them both. "Aww look at us on a double date," Nick laughed, placing his hand on top of Catherine's. They ordered drinks and scanned their menus. "I think I'll have the pizza," Sara said thoughtfully. "It's an Italian restaurant what else can you have?" Greg teased as she mock-glared at him. "This is nice," Catherine smiles as Nick attempted to read his choice from the menu; "Yeah, I'll have the cala…calag….damn that's a long word. That thing however you say it, I can't pronounce it but it looks real nice," Nick cringed, Catherine, Greg and Sara laughed, and they commenced in throwing napkins at each other and getting the strangest looks from people. They didn't care, for they were four people happy in love and getting along famously. "This is where it starts isn't it?" Greg laughed. "Yeah I guess so," Sara replied, "Wait-where what starts?" She raised her eyebrow. "The happiest years of the rest of our lives.