Morgan and Hodges strolled down the hallway past all of the labs, and chattered quietly. They reached Finley's office and Hodges stopped walking. Morgan turned to face him and smiled, backing into the office.
"I'll uh, I'll just be a sec. Don't go anywhere."
"You got it." Hodge's blue eyes sparkled under the influence of a subtle smile.
Morgan opened the door and turned to face Finn.
"Hey Brody, whatcha got for me?" The older woman smiled, putting down the clipboard she had been examining.
"Trace from the curtains. Apparently, it's chocolate.
"Ooh," Finn took the folder, interest aroused. "You think it's from the boyfriend?"
"That would be my best guess. We'll have to get samples from the store to compare it, but I'm guessing Hodges is gonna have an easy time matching this one up. Should be cut and dry from here."
Finn nodded absentmindedly, flipping through the folder, then suddenly stopped. A mischievious grin danced onto her face.
"Hodges, hey, what about that guy? Your Jimmy Stewart. How's that going?"
Morgan blushed.
"Ha, actually, we're on our way out to get coffee- strictly as friends, mind you." She held up a hand as if to repel any remarks from the other CSI. "Friends and nothing more. Ever. At all."
Finley didn't look especially convinced.
"Alrighty then. Coffee. Have fun with that." She winked at Morgan, who just shook her head and left the office, gently closing the door behind her.
She turned back around to find Hodges leaning against the wall, smiling expectantly.
"You all set?" He offered a hand.
This is too weird. Morgan thought, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks again.
 "Yeah. Let's go." She smiled and walked past him, ignoring the offered up appendage.
Hodges shrugged it off and followed her out through the front door. They walked down the cement stairs and crossed the parking lot, under the yellow-washed light of the murky street lamps.
"Want a ride, by any chance?"
Morgan looked up to see Hodges gesturing toward a fairly old, but well preserved Ford.
"Sure, that'll work."
She followed him over to the car, and got in. After starting the car, they sat quietly, waiting for the engine to warm up.
The sounds of Vegas resonated, even inside the sealed car. Ambulances wailed, people shouted, dogs barked, and somewhere a panicky-sounding car alarm was waking up a whole neighborhood. But the CSIs didn't mind.
Morgan grew up in Los Angeles, so these were the sounds of home to her. And Hodges, being a Las Vegas native, learned from an early age to filter out any noise that wasn't the sound of a woman's voice, or a classic medley or rock song.
When the engine temperature was at a reasonable enough level to drive, Hodges put the car in gear and pulled out of the station lot, and the two headed down to the diner at the end of the street.