Author's Note: I know it's been a couple of days more than I had intended it to be since my last update, but I got really swamped with work this week. It's getting close to the end of school; we only have 15 days of classes left, so I have a bunch of projects and papers to do. Bear with me as I try to keep up! Again, thank you all for your reviews, they're much appreciated and keep me going!

There are spoilers for season 10 in this fic, and I don't own CSI or any of the characters; I'm just borrowing them for a few moments…

Chapter 3 - Flee

Sara returned to the lab, exiting the car with a grimace upon her features. The drive had done nothing for her thoughts, and even less for her questions. Her strides were long and heavy as she entered the familiar glassy hallways of the crime lab and her eyes looked as though she was not only consumed in thought but in another world altogether.

"I'll run these over to Hodges and Wendy, okay?"

The voice startled her, though not visibly, and she nodded at the hyperactive once-lab-rat-now-CSI.

"Sure, Greg. Meet you in the break room?" Sara answered him, knowing she needed a moment to herself.

"Sure thing," came the over-the-shoulder reply. Sara nodded to herself, sighed, and made her way to the break room.

Catherine Willows had seen enough paperwork for one day. Two hours of filling out forms and reviewing case findings had left her with one empty pen and one major headache. Dragging herself out of her chair and stumbling as she noted her leg was asleep, the dreary CSI resolved to find herself some coffee – and an ibuprofen or three.

As she exited her office, Catherine didn't bother looking where she was going before rounding the corner towards the break room. In fact, it wasn't until she saw someone's feet sidestepping her own that she realized she had almost slammed straight into Greg.

"Whoa, Catherine. You doin' alright?" He asked, reaching out his free hand and placing it on Catherine's shoulder in concern.

"Yeah, Greg. I'm fine. Just a headache from all that paperwork I've been doing," she responded, trying not to be as curt as she wanted to be. Her headache was running straight for the border of migraine territory, and she wanted to catch it before it got there. The younger CSI nodded, muttering an apology before gesturing over his shoulder.

"I've gotta go, but help yourself to some of my Hawaiian mix. It's in the cupboard to the left on the bottom," Greg offered, knowing how nice some quality coffee could be on bad days. Catherine nodded and smiled as her caffeine savior strode off easily. So that's where he keeps it…

Doc Robbins circled the body again, making sure he hadn't missed anything. It was a pretty simple case of Acetaminophen OD, but it had very rapid onset and he couldn't find any other underlying conditions. He sent some extra bodily samples over to Tox just to make sure there were no underlying conditions that could have made the OD so lethal. The vic had ingested a large amount of Vicodin in a short amount of time, and there was some extra Acetaminophen in his system from another source. It was likely straight-up Tylenol, but he wanted Tox to do an advanced panel on it to make sure there weren't any other drugs that could have entered the vic.

After careful examination, Doc Robbins concluded that the body had no strange injection marks, so he couldn't have been doing any drugs that way. In fact, the victim seemed very healthy. He couldn't find what could have caused the OD to be fatal as rapidly as it had been, so he was leaving that to Tox to figure out.

Looking up from the body he had just finished sewing up, Doc smiled as the ever-peppy Greg sauntered into the room, closely followed by a distracted Sara Sidle.

"What's up, Doc?" Greg asked, his wide smile speaking volumes through his pun.

"Nice to see you, too, Greg," Doc Robbins began. "There seems to be nothing wrong with this body other than the obvious COD of Acetaminophen overdose." The CSIs nodded. "It's puzzling to me, as there was no reason for the overdose to have been fatal so rapidly. I sent a few samples of bodily fluids over to Tox to have them do an advanced panel on it, just in case there's something else in his system."

"He was outside when we found him. Could the temperature have sped it up?" Sara asked, knowing that even though it wasn't particularly sweltering that weekend, a higher body temperature could have caused the overdose to become more advanced, based on the rate the body metabolized it.

"It's doubtful. I'm sure you were aware of the mild temperatures this weekend, so there wasn't anything that could have called for an increase in body temperature." Greg hummed in thought, and Sara nodded. "That's another peculiar thing – I can't understand why he was on a prescription for Vicodin. His refill was filled the day prior to his death, am I right?"

"Yeah. And those things usually aren't refillable a long time after they're prescribed, right?" Greg answered, trying to clarify any possibilities for someone else refilling his prescription before they hit the streets.

"It's not likely," Sara began. "In fact, they're usually prescribed for a set amount of time. Who knows how he got it…" She answered Greg's unasked questioning.

"Well, we'll just have to see what Tox says, won't we?" Doc Robbins concluded, pacing over to the CSIs. "Now get, I have some John Does to process," he continued somewhat playfully, a smile across his features.

The break room was oddly populated for this time of night, Catherine noted as she sat with her fresh coffee. Ray and Nick were back from their 411, looking over some case files as they had some soda. Being out in the desert, traipsing around on a stretch of road was no fun and Catherine knew how it could dry one's throat out.

Fortunately, she could already feel some soothing of the pain in her head from the simple vapors of the drink. She had only made enough coffee for her cup, wanting to spare Greg some trouble, so the disappointed looks on the faces of her team were only to be expected as they searched for the source of the deliciously scented brew.

Sara strode in shortly after she had seated herself, a blank look upon her face. She had seemed distracted all night – at least when Catherine had seen her previously, and judging by the bags developing under Sara's eyes, she had not been doing any better. The tall CSI had quickly taken her regular seat, curled up in a corner of the couch with a forensics journal, followed by Greg who gave Catherine an easy smile. He made his destination the refrigerator, where he grabbed a cold beverage of…some sort before sitting by Catherine at the table.

"How are you doing?" He asked gently, just in case she was still in pain.

"Better," she replied honestly, taking a sip of the coffee. She had taken some pain relievers immediately upon arriving in the break room, and she was starting to feel the pain becoming suppressed. Greg smiled and nodded.

"Good," he said, taking a sip of his own drink.

Meanwhile, Sara had been trying to tune out the world. She had no use for free time, and that seemed to be all she was getting. Especially since waiting for a report from Tox was like waiting for Christmas…if the month was February. Being in the break room with so many people…well, it was mostly one person she was having a problem with, but…having so much external stimulation was not helping. It made her feel trapped, and she wanted to run to "her lab," the one where she used to always hide out when things got tough, but she had promised everyone she wasn't going to do that anymore. She was going to be stronger, and trust the team with her problems. Right, she mused internally, that's going to happen. I'd just get laughed at.

"Sara?"

The decidedly feminine voice caused her eyes to snap up in surprise.

"You alright there?" Catherine asked, sitting next to the brunette with a cup of…was that Greg's Hawaiian mix?

"I'm fine. Is that Greg's Hawaiian coffee?" She asked, clearly not giving any thought to her answer.

"Yes. But did you even hear me?" Catherine asked. She tried not to be too harsh-sounding, but she knew Sara would take her question the wrong way.

"I did, and I told you. I'm fine. Now why do you have Greg's special coffee that he keeps hidden from us?" Sara answered, frankly put off by Catherine's accusation.

"Migraine," she answered, taking her voice down a notch. She knew she had pushed Sara's buttons, she didn't want to continue to poke and prod.

"Ah." Eloquent, Sidle. Really eloquent.

"I was…I was asking if you were okay because you had asked for some time earlier…you seem really tired," Catherine commented. She didn't want to be annoying, she was concerned. Successfully coming off as such, Sara smiled sadly.

"It's nothing to concern yourself over; I'm just having a hard time lately."

"You know I'm here if you need to talk, right?"

"I know, Catherine. I know," Sara replied softly. She knew, she just would never go to the older CSI with any of her issues. Especially not this one…

"Things are alright with Grissom, aren't they?" Catherine asked, her voice but a whisper. She knew the boys would jump at hearing of their former supervisor. A pause followed by a sigh answered Catherine well enough.

"Like I said. Nothing to concern yourself over."

And with that, Sara Sidle stood up and left the break room for "her lab."

AN: I hope that was okay! I've been very distracted emotionally as of late, and thusly I have no idea if I stayed in-character for everyone. Again, thank you for your reviews! I love feedback 3