Author's Note: Yay, chapter 2! I should be updating fairly frequently, especially on weekends. I can't promise anything on weekdays, as I have school, but I will at least post one or two chapters per week – more if I can manage it. Like I said, I don't own CSI or the characters. I'm just taking them out to play for a bit. Spoilers are still for Season 10.

Chapter 2 - Sara - Vicodin

I left Catherine's office with a smile on my face. Not that surprising these days. If I wasn't hiding in an empty lab or burying myself in casework, being around Catherine would lift my spirits. See, that was my problem. She either caused me pain and to overwork myself or she'd be sending me up to dance all over cloud nine. That's why I needed a few days to myself – to put my head back on straight and return to my job with the gusto I had when I first saw everyone after my marriage to Grissom.

Grissom. The last name echoed through my head, followed by a million questions I couldn't possibly begin to list off. Gil, I amended. The questions quieted down, replaced with a little bit of warmth and a lot more emptiness. A sigh parted my lips as I pulled up next to Greg's Denali. Time to get to work, I chastised myself. I grabbed my kit and headed over to where a familiar face was smiling.

"Nice of you to join us," Brass began, a smile in his deep voice.

"I had to talk to Catherine," I answered him, giving him a look that clearly stated he should know what I was talking about.

"Uh-huh. Well, I'll give you the quick version. The deceased, an Eric Branlen, was found a couple feet from the pool, face-down and spread-eagled. David's still with the body, he was running late as well. Let's go see how he's doing, I'll tell you the rest on the way." I nodded, and Brass lead me carefully around to the back of the house.

It was a nice little building, a chain fence bordering the backyard so neighbors couldn't have access to the pool. There was a nice little concrete sidewalk to the pool area, the ground sprouting a few clusters of foliage. There were no visible signs of a struggle, at least not at first glance. The patio furniture wasn't upturned, and there were no blood trails. No footprints, either.

"Girlfriend called it in, said she walked out back because Branlen wouldn't answer the door. Found him like this, checked his pulse, dialed 911. She said she didn't touch anything else, but I plan on calling her in for at least a brief questioning and to get DNA and fingerprints from her for you guys," Brass finished, walking up to David. David looked up, and smiled briefly.

"Hey Brass, Sara."

"Hey there, David," I replied. "What're we looking at?"

"I haven't had a chance to roll the body, since Greg's working the perimeter, but from what I can tell this body hasn't been moved. The lividity seems to be just setting in, and based on the body temperature I collected, this guy's probably been dead only a couple of hours. He's not too stiff."

"Thanks, David. Ready to roll him over?" I asked, putting on a fresh pair of gloves.

"Sure, just grab that end over there and roll him towards me." I kneeled down near the pool, putting my kit out of the way, and helped David turn the body over. "Well that's interesting," David said, leaning closer to the body. "His chest and face have no scratches, so it doesn't appear that he fell. That's what my guess was at first." I nodded.

"No defense wounds on his arms or hands, either," I commented, lifting each one and inspecting it closely.

"He has a bottle of…Vicodin in his pocket." David held it up and shook it. "And there's only one pill left."

"Is it his?"

"Yep. It was filled just yesterday, so I'm guessing this is an overdose we're looking at."

"There'd be a lot of missing Vicodin otherwise," I said, smiling. Standing up and brushing my knees off, I readjusted my gloves and bagged the bottle of Vicodin. As I did so, Greg peeked over the fence from the side of the house he had been working on.

"Hey, Sara! This place has much of nothing!"

I laughed. "Keep looking, Greg, there's gotta be something around here!"

"Ten bucks says there isn't!" He replied, clearly joking but making a serious face none the less.

"Do your job, Greg," I scolded him, smiling and turning to Brass. "Well, I guess I'll finish up the immediate area and then head inside. Give me a page when you've got the girlfriend's information, I may have something to ask her by then."

"Alright. There's an officer out front, he'll be checking in if you guys haven't come out in an hour or so."

"Thanks, Brass. See you around." I waved as I picked up my case, slung my camera around my neck, and took a couple of steps back from the body. Branlen had been wearing some khaki-colored cargo shorts, and that's about it. So there were no shoe scuffs if he had managed to fall softly. What had happened to this guy?

A few grueling hours later, and Greg and I were standing between our cars.

"Well, looks like we have to go find some information elsewhere," he said, the exhaustion clear in his voice.

"It would seem so," I replied as I pushed my kit into the back. We had canvassed the entire house, swabbed and printed every surfaced, photographed everything and anything. We came up with virtually nothing. A small semen stain in the bed – no surprise there – and a little urine on the carpet in the living room. We cut that out of the floor and were going to try and salvage some DNA from it, but we didn't have high hopes for that. It was almost dried when we cut it, and would likely be done drying by the time we arrived at the lab.

"It's a good thing the guy wasn't a loner," Greg suggested. "Then we'd really have nothing."

"Yeah. I don't even want to begin to think about that," I said as we got into our respective Denalis. "See you at the lab," I called out before pulling away.

As soon as I was in the car, though, thoughts came flooding into my head and I resisted the urge to close my eyes and groan. Instead, I shook my head and turned on the radio. Maybe some tunes would keep it all away, even if only for a couple minutes.

AN: Thanks again for reading! I'm really pleased that I already have reviews. I hope more people stumble upon this so I can get some feedback! It's hard to jump into "Sidle-mode" after talking to friends about hilarious flash animations, so hopefully things seem pretty in-character. Chapter three may come tomorrow, maybe later. Depends on how busy I am!