(A/N: Yeah, I know I spelt Sara's name wrong…sorry. I realized that now…I'll fix that from now on…sorry!)

Katrina flopped down on the bed of her Dad's guest room and curled into a ball, she couldn't kick the feeling of wanting to throw up. She groaned and rolled over to turn on the lamp, her alarm clock read ten fifty, "So much for that date." She allowed herself a small laugh before groaning and grabbing her stomach in pain. Everything had happened so fast…there was nothing she could've done. Memories of the man in the hallway played in her head like a broken record, but slowly the memories began to fade and sleep consumed her.

Hours later her alarm clock blared next to her, she sat up quickly and hit the snooze button. Her head pounded and her stomach hurt; did that all really happen last night. She probed her head trying to subdue the pain, but she hit a sore spot and she hissed through her teeth, "I fell…in the parking ramp that's right. So it was real."

"As real as it'll ever be," Kat looked up to see her dad in the door way clad in tan pants and a blue button down, "If you want, you and I can stay home today. I'd rather you not go to work with what happened."

Katrina sighed, but got off the bed and forced a smile, "I think work is the safest place for me."

Grissom didn't look like he agreed to it, but nodded, "Alright get dressed then we'll go." He turned and shut the door behind him leaving Katrina to her privacy.

Katrina opened her suitcase and began to pull out clothes trying not to move too fast. She decided to go with dark jeans, a long sleeved dark blue shirt, and black high-tops. She pulled her hair back into a braid and put on a light shade of make up before running out to her dad's car. He looked at her and pursed his lips together, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," Katrina gave him another forced smile before looking out the window.

)()()()(

Katrina tried her hardest to keep her eyes focused on the vile she held in her hand, but everything had begun to go fuzzy and black spot kept appearing. She closed her eyes and shook her head hoping it would go away, but nothing soon the room began to grow dark and suddenly there was nothing, but the loud crash of glass breaking on the floor. Eventually voices came into play, but she kept coming and going only hearing bits and pieces: "I heard the crash—Maybe I should've convinced her to stay—I'll stay with her—we've got a problem back at Trace—Where the Hell is that Doctor!—She's not breathing—." Then there was nothing, but silence and darkness.

"Am I dead yet?"

"Katrina," the voice was muffled, but she could tell it belonged to her dad, "can you hear me?"

Slowly Katrina's eyes fluttered open, the bright fluorescent lights bugging out her brain, but she pushed it aside and turned her head to look at her dad, "Hey Dad."

"Oh thank God," He bent down closer to her and brushed her bangs out of her face, "How do you feel?"

"Like I just got hit by a speeding semi carrying elephants," Katrina looked down at her arms to see IVs and tubes going in and out, "What happened?"
"We're not sure," Grissom sighed and stood up, "you were working in the lab alone when all of sudden you collapsed. Thank God Greg was just coming down the hall."

Katrina emitted a short laugh, "Why does it seem when I'm always in the face of danger…he ends up saving me."

Grissom smiled at her, "I'm not sure."

"How long have I been out?"

"About four hours," Grissom looked at the screen where her heart beat was being monitored, "The Doctor said that you had an adrenaline crash."

"Is that even possible? Are you sure it's not a concussion?"

"Positive," Grissom looked back at her, "It seems you've been running on fumes since last night…it just hit you like—."

"A speeding semi carrying elephants?"

Grissom chuckled, "Yeah that." He was about to add something else, but his cell phone in his pocket rang. He retrieved it and answered, "Grissom."

Talking…

"She's awake, yeah, she's talking."

More talking…

"Um, I'm not sure. I was probably just going to take her home," He looked at Katrina and she was shaking her head violently almost causing herself to black out again, "Actually, we might stop by just to pick up some files, but I don't think we'll be staying long. Just make sure Hodges and Greg get the problem patched up." Grissom snapped the phone shut, "That was Catharine. She and the others have been worried sick about you. I'm going to get a Doctor in here then we'll head back to the labs."

)()()()(

Grissom had allowed Katrina to leave his side as long as she stayed in the lab areas, she had agreed so he went away. Katrina made her way to DNA and entered slowly, she looked down at the ground where a red stain had already seeped into the floor Katrina went to the sink and wet a wash cloth. She got to her hands and knees and began to scrub trying to get rid of her mistake, tears had begun to well up in her eyes, but she bit her tongue holding them back. She sat there for ten minutes scrubbing, but only long enough for the deep crimson to turn a dark pink. She was ready to give up when another hand appeared with a wash cloth, she looked up to see the top of Greg's head as he scrubbed the floor. After a minute he spoke, "You know, the only way to get rid of this completely is with bleach, right?"

Katrina didn't answer she kept her eyes locked on the top of his head.

"But, if you put your back into it," he sat up and pulled the cloth away from where he was scrubbing to reveal white floor, he looked at her and smiled, "no chemicals will be needed…well anymore."

Katrina choked out a laugh then looked back at the rest of the stain, "I'm sorry, Greg."

"For what, blacking out and spilling much needed evidence on the floor," He laughed and began to scrub again.

"Yeah, that," Katrina muttered and started to scrub again.

"It's not a problem, we have more samples, and besides it was an accident," Katrina could hear the smile in his voice, her stomach filled with butterflies and she chewed on her bottom lip.

The door to the lab opened and Warrick's voice broke the silence, "Greg, I've got some more stuff for you…what are you doing on the floor?"

"Cleaning up a chemical spill," Greg said, "I'm on a roll. Give it to Katrina."

"Are you sure?" Katrina asked.

"We both know I can clean this better than you," Greg said.

Katrina dropped the rag and stood up, Warrick smiled at her, "Glad you're feeling better."
"Me too," Katrina walked over to him, "What do you got for me?"

"Well, it turns out you were right about the fingerprints," Warrick opened a file and handed her a paper with the daughter's picture on it, "The cut is an exact match to that of the daughter's finger, but…"

"I don't like buts…"

Warrick shook his head, "Her alibi checks out. She wasn't there when her dad was murdered."

Katrina's brow furrowed as she took the file from his hands, she opened it to a picture of the screwdriver "I don't understand her print was on the murder weapon."

"Yeah, but what if that isn't the murder weapon?" Warrick folded his arms across his chest.

"But his wounds were made by a screwdriver," Katrina dropped the file on the counter and flipped through crime scene photos, she stopped at a picture of the garage. She grabbed a magnifying glass and looked closer… "Hey, Warrick, check this out."

Warrick grabbed the eye glass and looked at what it hovered over, his eyebrows rose up, "A workbench with a screwdriver holder."

"But what I don't understand is how his blood got on the other one," Katrina stopped and looked at Warrick, "maybe there were two murder weapons."
"But then—," Warrick stopped short, "Damn."

"What?"

"Guess who we got the alibi from?"

"The Step-mom?"
Warrick nodded, "But her alibi checked out with a restaurant the two went to."

"What if she's having sex with the owner or paying him?" Katrina asked.

"Or," Greg quickly popped up from the other side of the counter, "All three are lying and the owner had something to do with the murder too."

"So," Warrick looked between the two lab-rats and frowned, "in other words…the screwdriver is the murder weapon, but there are other wounds on the body that don't match, which could be equivalent to another type of screwdriver like you said."
"Where does the owner come in?" Katrina asked.

"He drove?" Greg offered.

Warrick's frown turned into a large grin, "I see what you two are getting at, I'll bring it up with Brass and Nick, oh, which reminds me, Nick is looking for you Junior." With that he grabbed the file and walked out.

Katrina smiled at Greg, "I think we make a good team."

Greg's smile looked forced, but Katrina ignored it, "Yeah, we do. You better find Nick...I'll finish with the mess."

Katrina smiled once more at him then walked out, and it was then dawned on her she whispered, "Thanks for telling me where." Katrina walked pass the break room to see Sara and Catharine talking, they both stopped to look up at her. Catharine was the first to talk, "Feeling better?"

"Much, thanks," Katrina smiled at them, "Hey have any of you seen—."
"Nick?" Sara asked, "Yeah, he's over at Trace."

"Thanks," Katrina quickly retreated and headed towards Trace, sure enough there stood Nick talking with Hodges. She stopped in front of the glass window and waited to be noticed. Hodges nodded towards her and waved; she waved back then pointed at Nick. Nick turned and held up a finger with a large smile.

Katrina sighed, but turned and leaned up against the window.

A few minutes later Nick walked out to stand next to her, "Sorry, I had to figure something out."

Katrina smiled, "Its fine. Warrick said you were looking for me?"
Nick looked at her confused, but then his face lit up as he remembered, "Yeah, yeah, I was going to say that since our dinner plans got canceled last night I was wondering if you'd like to try having dinner tonight?"

Katrina was about to open her mouth to say yes, but snapped it shut realizing that maybe a public place was a bad idea. As if reading her thoughts Nick quickly spoke, "At my place, I can cook a mean steak."

Katrina smiled, "Yeah, I'd like that."
"So, I'll pick you up at Grissom's say around," He bit his lip and went quite thinking, "six-ish."
"So an hour earlier than last night," Katrina nodded, "Alright, I'll see you then. I should probably get back to DNA and help Greg."
"Yeah," Nick clapped his hands together then turned to walk away.

Katrina spun on her heels and quickly headed back to DNA, with nothing, but a smile.

"Hey, Katrina, I was looking over this knife found last night," Greg said right as she walked in. He looked up at her dumbfound look, "I finished with the mess, anyways come here once."
Katrina crossed over to him and took his spot so she could look at the knife, "What about it?"

He walked over and stood partially behind her, yet still next to her, he pointed a gloved finger at the handle, "What's that?"

Katrina squinted her eyes and bent closer, the handle had two engraved letters in a fancy-twirling font making it hard to see. Greg's face was close to hers as they both peered at it in silence, neither commenting on a personal bubble. Finally when their eyes began to strain did the two realize how close they were when Hodges walked in, "I hate to break up you're little love fest, but we've got a problem."

Greg and Katrina quickly side stepped away from each other and looked at Hodges; Katrina was the first to speak, "What's wrong?"

"Grissom wants us all in the break room now."

Katrina took a seat next to Nick and waited in silence as her Dad watched everyone sit. Once everyone was sitting Grissom stood and took a deep breath, "Um, as you all know, Katrina was attacked by her mother last night. Well, it seems that she's not her only target."
"What do you mean not only?" Catharine asked.

Grissom looked at Katrina and shook his head, "I found this in my work mailbox." He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket; he unfolded it to reveal a picture of the whole CSI team, including the lab workers. Each one of them had a circle around their faces and a number above their heads.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Warrick asked.

Grissom turned it over and held it up so everyone could see, on the back was a note written in messy chicken-scratch, Grissom read it out loud, "You are all going to die. You are all going to pay for taking my baby away from me. I won't let a single one of you live until I get her back. And until I do…someone will die. If you value your life give her back…"

The room fell silent as everyone exchanged glances, but finally Sara broke the silence, "What are we going to do?"

"I know two things were going to do," Grissom put the paper down and held up a finger, "One, we're not going to give my daughter to anybody…" he held up another finger, "and two, none of us can be alone."

That caused people's eyes to grow wide.

"Now who lives alone?" Grissom asked.

Eventually it came down to Sara, Nick, Wendy, Hodges, Warrick, and Greg.

"Catharine I know you've got your daughter and your mom, but I don't think that's enough," Grissom sighed.

"If it's okay with Wendy, she can come and stay with us," Catharine said.

"Yeah, I'll do that," Wendy nodded at her.

Catharine looked at Sara, "I'll have Sara stay with us as well."

"Thanks," Sara smiled.

"Originally I was going over to Catharine's house to go over some cases, so I'll crash there tonight," Warrick looked at her, "If that's alright."

She nodded at him.

"Other than that, I'll probably stay at Nicky's."

"Greg, Hodges, if I remember you two each live in a one bedroom apartment," Grissom sighed, "You two will be staying with Kat and me."

Greg and Hodges nodded reluctantly.

"As for you Nicky, since you won't be with—."

"Actually, Dad, I was going over tonight to help him with the Rapist case," Katrina said.

Grissom's face hardened, "Nicky, how many rooms do you have?"

"Two, sir," Nick said staring back with the same hard features.

"Fine," Grissom said, but he didn't look too happy about it, "Now when everyone leaves, I want everyone to be in pairs and I want those who can carry guns to carry them at all times."

)()(

Katrina walked into her dad's office and hugged his shoulders, "I'll see you tomorrow dad."
"You're leaving?" Grissom asked looking up at her.

She nodded, "Yeah, Nick and I are heading out." She let go of her dad and smiled softly at him.

He forced one back, "Be careful."

"I will be," Katrina answered back with a gentle voice trying to ease her dad's worrying, "I've got my cell phone. I'll call you in two hours or so."

"Hey, Kat, we got to go or we're going to hit traffic," Nick said appearing in the door way.

"'Kay," Katrina gave her dad one last smile before walking off.

"So, do you prefer to sit and watch a man cook or cook yourself?" Nick whispered so only she could hear.

Katrina giggled softly, "I think I'll watch you suffer."
Nick beamed at her, "Lovely."

As they reached the elevator a hand rested on Katrina's shoulder, she turned to see Greg, "Hey Greg, what do you need?"

"I was just going to ask," Greg stopped mid sentence and looked at Nick as if just realizing he was there, "Oh, hey Nick."

Nick lifted his eyebrows in a hello.

"You were saying Greg?" Katrina asked.

"Ah, never mind, I'll tell you tomorrow," Greg smiled at her then looked back at Nick his smile fading. The two stared at each other intensely as if having a silent conversation. Finally Greg spoke, "I should go and see when I'm leaving."

"Yeah," Nick said, "See ya buddy." Nick and Katrina turned and got onto the elevator, the doors slid closed cutting them off from the CSI Labs.

)()()(

Katrina watched in silence as Nick's muscular arms made dinner, every now and then he'd glance up to smile at where she sat on the counter, but most of the time she watched in nervous silence. His shirt was tight against his skin showing every working muscle as he moved around the kitchen, her mind swirled with thoughts of being in his arms and feeling his strong body against hers, but every time she pushed it away feeling embarrassed to even think about it.

Within an hour dinner had come and gone and now the two sat in the living room one on each side of the couch. They'd talked about almost everything, but eventually it fell silent…the room held a wave of anxiety around them as a storm slowly crawled into play over Las Vegas. The clouds poured rain, lighting clashed and thunder roared. At one point Katrina had stood to go to the bathroom (she didn't actually have to go she just wanted to get away from the awkwardness), but just as she was passing Nick there was a large boom outside followed by a crash then complete darkness…the power was out. She let out a shriek and tumbled back, but just before she collided with the floor Nick grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She flew back towards him collapsing on top of him. She bounced back to the end of the couch, "I am so, so sorry!"

Nick chuckled in the darkness; she felt the couch shift at his end "It's fine, besides I've wanted to catch you all night."
Katrina's face blushed a color that didn't matter because nobody could see her, "Well congrats, you probably saved me from a concussion."

Nick stayed silent, but the couch moved again, Katrina felt a presence next to her curled up legs. Her heart pounded in her chest, but she didn't move. Slowly a hand touched her cheek and the scent of Nick overwhelmed her, without thinking she had her arms around his neck and her lips pressed against his. He put hand on the small of her back and rested the other on the arm of the couch to keep balanced. Their lips moved together as one as the storm toyed with the Vegas lights…